Trouble In The New World
by TomThorpe
Summary: It had been two years since that battle on Gaea, it didn't seem like two years though. All of AVALANCHE had settled in and the Spirians were becoming more and more advanced as time went on. Over the course of the two years they had created a well developed society. However, things were about to change, will they be for the better? (Follow on from Returning To The New World).
1. The Trial For Survival

**Chapter 1 - The Trial For Survival**

" _You're stupid and useless! You can't do anything right!"_

" _It's over Cloud!"_

!~!

A light. No, lights. Green, yellow and blue glimmers, floating in the sky without a care on the world. They wandered around with no real destination in mind. Mindless souls of the dead, looking for a purpose. As his eyes opened they seemed to rejoice and spiral around like energetic toddlers happy to see their parents. But who was he? Cloud?

It was all coming back to Cloud now; Sephiroth, Spira, Jenova, Gaea – everything. Zack, Aerith, AVALANCHE, Yuna they were all injected back into his mind. Cloud's vision was blurry after opening his eyes and all he could see were those green yellow and blue lights as well as a red splotch standing over him.

"So, the hero wakes?" That deep voice, Cloud recognised it. It had been a while since he heard it but he had to make sure. "Auron?" Cloud's voice was croaky when he asked the question, how long had it been since he used his voice? The image his eyes were creating began to focus a little bit more and the face of the red cloaked figure began to gain facial features. It was Auron.

"You've been asleep for some time," Auron informed Cloud, "I thought your mind would never adjust to the realm of the dead when I found you, but it looks like I was wrong." Realm of the dead? That's right, it was all coming back to Cloud now. Jenova had stabbed him in the chest, but if he was in the realm of the dead did that mean…?

"Am I…?" Cloud didn't want to finish his sentence, he couldn't bring himself to ask it. Luckily Auron read him like a book "Dead? That remains to be decided. I'll explain all of it later, right now we need to get you moving again."

Auron was right, when Cloud stood up his movements were stiff and were lacking in fluency, basic movements like walking even bending his arm was a challenge. Something bothered Cloud though, why would it remain to be decided whether he was dead or not?

The two swordsmen made their way to a small hut, however there was no pace about them. Cloud didn't expect the realm of the dead to be so: tranquil. To Cloud it seemed like a field of flowers, Auron had told Cloud that the surroundings would be perceived as the most peaceful place to him, everyone would have their own perception of the realm.

As they moved closer to the hut two more figures could be seen waiting for them, they too were familiar to Cloud. One he had met briefly, the other he had only heard about. "Well you sure took your time!" The first was hotheaded and wore no shirt as well as holding a sword almost as big as Cloud's.

"I was beginning to think I would never meet the man who made Yuna so happy." This one's voice was softer and more soothing. He wore a red robe and a navy head piece, the attire fit his personality well. Cloud was still in a daze but he could remember their names.

"Jecht? Lord Braska?" It seemed as though the pair were pleased that Cloud knew who they were. Braska took him inside where he brewed some sort of herbal remedy. Upon drinking the remedy, Cloud felt his senses coming back quicker, he felt more alert and aware of his surroundings.

The remedy Braska had brewed for Cloud reminded him of hypers, only it tasted ten times worse. He tried to hide the look of disgust which only made Braska laugh. "There's no need to hide it. Everything in the realm of the dead would taste bad to the living."

"So, I'm not dead?" Cloud had still yet to be answered, however it looked like he was finally about to get some information as to what was going on. "After you delivered the final blow to Jenova all of existence was wiped out., it seems like someone with a higher power still has some use for you."

"When the living are sent here they're tested to see whether their lives are worthy enough to be spared." Jecht had continued on from Braska after entering the hut. Cloud knew it was that strange being who had sent him here, the same one he had spoken to in his dreams, the same one Jenova spoke about during their fight.

"There are four tasks layed out for you. The first is the Hall of Illusion, the second is the Forest of Fears, the third is the Valley of Death and the final one is the Champion's Arena," Auron explained to Cloud "if you want to get out of here and back to Spira, then we need that remedy to work it's magic fast. You've been asleep for two years after all."

Two years? Yuna must think that Cloud had broken his promise, that he was dead. Without a doubt Cloud had to get out of here, and fast. "How do I start these tasks?" It hadn't even occurred to Cloud that he didn't have his fusion sword.

"I'll take you where you need to go, the rest will be explained there." Cloud took another big gulp of the remedy as Auron told him about how to start the tasks.

Cloud was surprised by the nature of the tasks. Auron had said that the ruler of the realm of the dead, The Keeper as they called him, had turned the tasks into a form of entertainment for the spirits of the dead that resided here. The ex-guardians and ex-summoner weren't impressed by the lack of decency shown by this 'Keeper'.

To be honest Cloud didn't really care about who was watching him, as long as he got through the tasks he didn't care what anyone thought of him. With the last sip of the remedy Cloud felt revitalised and rejuvenated, though he did still feel a little bit slow.

"Where's my sword?" Cloud couldn't very well jump into these supposedly dangerous tasks without his weapon could he? Jecht went to the corner of the room and held up the fusion sword for Cloud to see. At least he knew he had his own weapon for these tasks.

While Cloud was preparing the tasks were broken down for him. The first would be the Hall of Illusions, next was the Forest of Fears, then the Valley of Death and finally the Champion's Arena. The Hall of Illusions required a lot of thinking he had been told, they also told him to take his time and not to rush anything. For the Forest of Fears they informed Cloud that he would have to face his biggest fear in order to progress. The Valley of Death was for the skilled fighters, there was no magic allowed, no special items, just a single weapon of your choice. For the final task, the Champion's Arena, it was a one on one fight against the strongest warrior in the realm of the dead.

"I've seen him fight a few times and on the rare occasion that a challenger makes it to the Champion's Arena, they haven't lasted to seconds against the 'Crusher'" Jecht seemed uneasy after saying the name of the champion. Cloud was too, he had to have earned a name like the 'Crusher' from some where, right?

"If I beat him and get back to Spira, what will it be like? How will I know where to find Yuna," Cloud's question wasn't answered, "you can't tell me?" Auron nodded after his follow up question. That was annoying, he would just have to wait until he was there.

!~!

Cloud was lead through the fields of flowers that only he could see and towards a long building that had two entrances, 'Spectators' and 'Competitors'. Obviously Cloud made his way to the competitors entrance where he and the old trio stood for a moment.

"This is where we leave you, unfortunately we aren't allowed to enter." Auron explained as they stood by the side of the entrance. "Make sure you concentrate, don't underestimate any of the tasks." Braska continued on. "We'll be in the crowd cheering you on, don't make a fool of yourself out there!" Jecht was already heading towards the line for the spectator entrance. Cloud didn't blame him, that was a long line just to watch a few living spirits try to prove their worth. It must've circled around at least 50 times now.

When they headed to join the ridiculously long line, Cloud was left alone to make his way inside. There weren't many competitors in the lobby. Cloud supposed that you must have to be very special to get into the realm of the dead and be able to compete. Regardless he made his way to the desk.

"I'm here to compete." The assistant seemed to sigh as Cloud approached her. "Give me your name and where you want to go if you earn your freedom." Cloud told her his name and that he wanted to go to Spira before she wrote down the information and handed him a ticket with a number on it. He guessed he was supposed to wait until the number was read out so he took a seat.

After a few minutes of waiting, some doors were burst open and two employees dragged a body out from it, there were cheers of excitement coming from the doors. "Ticket number 317! You're up!" That was Cloud. He slowly stood up and made his way to the desk where another employee was waiting to escort him to the first task.

"Our next challenger is, Cloud Strife! You all know the drill, first up is the Hall of Illusions!" Cloud was met immediately by a booming voice from over head. He could also hear the crowd but he couldn't see it. Anyway, he couldn't let his mind wander.

Cloud drew his sword, which was still equipped with the materia from his fight with Jenova; double cut, deathblow and poison combined with added effect, and looked around. His surroundings were quite strange, a shroud of black mist and an obscure purple flooring. As he made his way along the room, he could hear the faint sound of voices whistling in the air.

" _Failure!"_

" _Pathetic!"_

" _Weak!"_

Cloud's grip tightened. After making it a quarter to the end of the shrouded room small balls of light appeared before him, they came together and formed a familiar looking face. It was Cloud's mother. His jaw dropped and a scowl appeared on his face. We're the tasks really that unforgiving?

"Why did you leave me Cloud? Why didn't you stop Sephiroth from burning down the town? Why?" Cloud found himself unable to respond. Suddenly more balls of light appeared they swirled around the room like a snow storm. His head was starting to ache. Would he really have to face the people of his past?

It had all suddenly clicked into place, Cloud knew what this task was. He had to leave the past in the past, he had to ignore the illusions of his friends and family. Although it was difficult, Cloud walked past his mother and kept going. Rufus, the Turks, Scarlet, Heidegger, he saw almost everyone. Everyone from AVALANCHE were there as well as everyone he had met on Spira. The hardest one to walk past was Yuna.

"Why didn't you keep your promise?" Cloud closed his eyes as he walked through the illusion causing it to separate into the balls of light again. When he reopened his eyes the door to the next task was laid out before him. It was strange, Cloud had expected his geostigma to react extremely badly to those illusions but it hadn't even bothered it. The reason for this was because it wasn't there.

Before Cloud opened the door he rolled up his single sleeve and didn't seeing anything apart from the red ribbon. Maybe the realm of the dead had gotten rid of the disease, after all you can't die in the realm of the dead. Perhaps there was something about this place that prevented disease, Cloud didn't know.

He was confused, that is until it hit him. The remedy that Braska gave him. Had the high summoner just cured Cloud from the incurable disease? There was nothing to hide anymore, Cloud ripped off the sleeve and approached the door to the next task.

Cloud paused for a moment. That was too easy. He took another look around the room and noticed there were many other doors that lead to different places. Suddenly the room shrank and the doors surrounded Cloud, enclosing him into a circle of doors. He was being forced to make a choice. The room shrank again and the doors got closer. So this was the punishment for failure, either you picked the wrong door and something bad would happen to you or the room would crush you alive anyway.

Cloud had little time to think and the doors kept getting closer. He needed to choose a door but what if it was the wrong one? What if he picked a door that lead to his demise? They were getting closer and closer, would Cloud have to put his life in the hands of fate?

"Hold on," Cloud spoke to himself aloud to keep his mind from wandering, "the Hall of Illusions? That's it!" he had discovered the secret. With a smirk on his face he sheathed his sword and folded his arms. The doors got closer and closer until they were only a few inches away from Cloud. When they finally reached Cloud the doors just fazed through him, they were Illusions this entire time.

The dark shroud of mist began to dissipate and the real door revealed itself to Cloud. As he made his way to the door he noticed that the geostigma still wasn't there, maybe that wasn't an illusion after all. Cloud was feeling good and confident which was the right attitude to have right before you were about to enter a place called the 'Forest of Fears'. Cloud wasn't sure what he was going to find in there but he pushed open the door anyway and stepped inside.

"Cloud did well in figuring out the secret to the Hall of Illusions! But! Will he be able to face his fears in the Forest of Fears!?" Again, Cloud heard the voice of the commentator booming over head, the crowd were also yet to be seen.

It didn't occur to Cloud that the Forest of Fears would be an actual forest, a dark and menacing one at that. He took his first few steps and heard some rustling to his left, then his right. A black shadow made it's way in front of Cloud from the floor. It rose up and began to take form, a form of what Cloud could only assume was his greatest fear.

"My name is Cloud, SOLDIER first class." Cloud's eyes were stapled open and his grip was right. The shadow had formed into a version of himself. It was the Cloud of the last who thought he was an ex-SOLDIER, the one that was controlled by Sephiroth.

Imposter Cloud raised the Buster Sword and lunged for the real Cloud. He quickly side stepped to dodge the attack and took out the fusion sword. There was another roar from the crowd, they knew it was going to be interesting. Again the imposter swiped at Cloud who blocked and parried with his own swift attack to the legs. Normally his attack would've swept his opponent off of their feet but this time the fusion sword just went right through the form of his past self and Cloud had to use his quick reactions to block the next attack that came in. If Cloud couldn't hit the damn thing how was he supposed to beat it? It didn't seem fair that it could hit him but he could not hit it.

After a few more blows, that were blocked by Cloud, the shadow seemed to change. The facial features and clothes that it wore were transforming into a familiar looking foe. His silver hair and black attire was unmistakable. Sephiroth. Cloud wasn't surprised, this was the Forest of Fears after all.

"All you are, is an empty puppet." Cloud could've sworn Sephiroth's smirk was the very same one he gave after killing Aerith. He launched a few attacks from the sides at Sephiroth which all went through him, nothing was landing. Suddenly Sephiroth slammed his sword at Cloud who barely stopped his own sword from hitting him in the face due to how powerful the strike was. Two more came in at lightning speed. Cloud blocked the first one but the second one hit him hard.

"Argh!" Cloud was launched a few metres back where he fell flat on his back. The fusion sword had left his side as well, it flew through the air and lodged itself into one of the trees. Cloud was dazed after the ridiculously powerful strike and could barely stand up. After he did manage to get back on his feet it only resulted in him falling back down to his knees. Was this the end? Was Cloud about to fail this task and never see his friends again? No!

As Cloud panted, recovering from the damage done by this shadow of his past, he realised something. He couldn't hit the shadow because he couldn't change the past and the shadow could hit him because the past was able to mentally hurt anyone. This thing was only able to hurt Cloud because he was letting it. That was the solution.

Cloud stood up and looked at 'Sephiroth' right in the eye. As expected he launched himself at Cloud, however when he got only a few inches away from his face, Sephiroth stopped and began to fade away back into a shadow.

That was the purpose of the Forest of Fears. This shadow was able to look into your mind and pluck out your thoughts, if you cleared your mind what would it be able to look at? Nothing. And that's exactly what the shadow transformed into.

Cloud walked straights through the shadow and made his way through the dark forest aligned with grey trees that were close to death, taking the fusion sword out of one of the trees as he did. There was the door right at the end of the forest wedged in between two withered our oak trees that hung sullenly in the depressing dismal forest.

When Cloud opened the door he was enclosed in a tiny square room. There was a small box on the wall to his right for all special items that he had. Grimly he unequipped the materia from his sword and placed all of the remaining potions he had into the box along with the materia. After everything was in there he pushed a button to the side of it which sent his belongings to the end of the room Cloud presumed.

"It's been a while since we had a challenger get to the Valley of Death am I right? Cloud will now have to survive this task with just his weapon alone! Can he make it past the endless wall of fiends?" The voice seemed louder, as did the crowd. Cloud must've been getting closer to the end.

As soon as the door of the square room opened Cloud was immediately met with fiends. Small ones, big ones, they were spread out all across the valley. There was no roof this time either and Cloud could see the Arena where the Crusher was waiting for him.

The first few fiends were simple enough, Cloud cut them down with one swipe each. He noticed that they were getting progressively more difficult as he made his way through the room. It reminded him of the battle arena at the Gold Saucer, only there were no short breaks in between.

Cloud blocked one attack coming from his left then stepped to the side to dodge an attack from the right. By doing so he was able to slash upwards and drag his sword through the back of two fiends. Another attack came in which he dodged by rolling to the side, his counterattack saw the fusion sword slicing through the neck of the fiend.

Now things were getting interesting. Fiends from the Northern Cave and inside of Sin were starting to appear. Two Iron Giants has teamed up to try and take out Cloud. His speed was his advantage here, from his memory the Iron Giants were slow and clunky. He saw the first attack coming from a mile away and managed to get behind the giant before it's attack had even been launched. Cloud slashed the backs of it's legs and followed it up with a downward strike which left one giant remaining. This one's attack came in a bit faster causing Cloud to jump backwards, this actually worked to his advantage. Seeing what most couldn't see, Cloud ran to the sword and stood on top of it. When the giant threw him in the air he prepared his Braver limit break and cut the Iron Giant in half.

An average person would've given in to the fatigue by now, however Cloud had the power of mako on his side and with the geostigma gone due to Braska's remedy he felt stronger and faster than ever before. It was as though the stigma was holding Cloud back from his full potential.

Most of the fiends had been cleared now and only one was left, however it was one of the toughest fiends he had ever faced. It was a red dragon, a fire breathing death machine of destruction. When Cloud was faced by the winged beast, it roared at the sky and neared it's fangs at him. Cloud's eyes widened, he anticipated the dragon's first move and ran as fast as he could. A trail of fire followed him which came from the belly of the beast. He eyed up a large rock in the valley and dived for it. Rolling behind the rock did the trick and the fire hit the back of it which gave Cloud time to breath. After a few seconds the fire stopped, this was his chance. While the dragon was waiting for it's fire to recharge, Cloud ran at the fiend. He had to dodge a few attack that came in by it's claws before stepping back and slashing his sword diagonally upwards to the right. The attack caught the chin of the dragon and left it stunned for a few seconds. Cloud took the opportunity to run to the side of the dragon's head and jump on top of it. After recovering from the stun, the dragon started to struggle and thrash around to try and throw Cloud off, however he had a tight grip on one of it's horns and managed to stay on. Just when it looked like he was about to fall off the fusion sword was rammed into the dragon's right eye, followed by the left. Cloud propelled himself upwards and brought his sword down on the neck of the dragon as he fell to the ground, decapitating it as he did.

Cloud rested his sword on his shoulder as the dragon crumbled to the ground and begin to disperse into pyreflies. There was a big cheer coming from the Champion's Arena in the distance, the crowd must've liked that move. Cloud sighed and made his way to the arena.

Along the way, Cloud started thinking. What would've happened if Genesis had succeeded in taking away Cloud's mako? Would he be here now, fighting for his freedom? Or would he merely be a spectator, unable to compete, unable to fight? It didn't matter now though. All that did matter was getting back to Spira and keeping his promise to Yuna.

Once Cloud got there he noticed the box with his items in there was just outside of the entrance. Before he entered he equipped his materia again and put the only remaining potion in a slot on the side of his ankle.

The arena reminded Cloud of a Roman colosseum with the circular style and high seating plan for the spectators so the competitors couldn't escape. There was a sprinkle of sand all over the floor of the battlefield which made Cloud weary.

"Cloud has made it to the Champion's Arena! His display in the Valley of Death was very impressive was it not? Now, are you all ready to see him face if against our most fierce warrior!? Here he comes: The Crusher!"

As the man in black armour made his way into the arena to meet Cloud in battle, the crowd was going crazy. They both met in the middle of the colosseum and shook hands. The Crusher's grip was tight and for a moment or two they stood still staring at each other, trying to fight for dominance.

"Fight!" It was the commentator who broke their fight for mental dominance and they both returned to their corners. Cloud drew his fusion sword and the Crusher drew a sword just as big as the Buster Sword, perhaps even bigger. Normally Cloud was lunge straight at his enemy but this time he let the Crusher come at him. He didn't know what to expect and didn't want to be caught off guard.

The first attack was heavy, it was hard to over power the Crusher. Cloud rolled to the side and struck downwards, the swing was blocked and Cloud noticed a foot heading straight for his chest. A backwards roll was enough to dodge the kick however the Crusher kept coming and followed up with another heavy blow from above. Cloud raised his sword above his head to block it and their swords locked. It was unbelievable how strong his attacks were, Cloud had fallen to one knee while they locked swords. Again, Cloud rolled backwards to get away from the sword lock. An attack came in from the right then the left. He parried the one on the right and stepped back to dodge the one on the left which presented and opening. Quickly, Cloud swung his sword at the Crusher from the left and got past his defence. Under normal circumstances that would've been the fight over, but the fusion sword was lodged into the black armour of the Crusher.

Cloud eyed a backhand attack coming in and ducked down with his hand still on the hilt of the fusion sword which was still stuck in the armour. He had to take a risk and pull it out. It was very close to being game over for Cloud when he did pull it out as he almost lost his footing, however he managed to stay on his feet. With the power of the Crusher's attacks, Cloud knew he had to take an offensive approach and lunged at his opponent. Many of his attacks were too fast for the Crusher, but that armour kept deflecting the fusion sword. Once again their sword locked and Cloud was ready this time. He did the same thing he did against Jenova. Unexpectedly to the Crusher one of the smaller side blades unclipped from the fusion sword and flew through the air into Cloud's left hand. With the hilt of the side blade he hit the Crusher as hard as he could on the side of the head causing his helmet to fall off, exposing his face and neck.

The Crusher's face was full of scars and one of his eyes were completely white, without a pupil or an iris. He was bald too and bore no facial hair, he looked like your typical soldier. He didn't seem too happy about Cloud knocking his helmet off and lunged at him screaming in rage as he did. The attack came from over head which Cloud blocked, however he had to quickly move his sword down to his legs due to another quick attack coming in from low down.

Their swords were raised and they circled each other around the arena until Cloud threw the small side blade at the Crusher's face which he followed in. Easily the Crusher deflected the side blade but it wasn't so easy for him to quickly block Cloud's follow up. He barely managed to block it however he retaliated with a diagonal downward strike which Cloud dodged by side stepping. The blade got stuck in the ground and Cloud smirked. Taking his opportunity he span the fusion sword around in the air and hit the Crusher's sword with all of his might causing it to shatter into little pieces. With no hesitation Cloud quickly swung his sword at the Crusher's neck and decapitated him.

As the Crusher hit the ground the crowd went silent until the commentator intervened "We have a new champion! Cloud Strife!" after that the crowd were up on their feet and cheering. If there was any doubt that Cloud wasn't favoured by the crowd, it was now crushed.

"Cloud! Cloud! Cloud! Cloud!"

His name could be heard all around the arena, the chanting wouldn't stop. A door opened up at the far side of the colosseum. Cloud could only assume e was meant to go through the doors. Maybe he would have to talk to the Keeper and tell him where Cloud wanted to go. Freedom was his: and he was taking it. No matter what happened he was going to get to Spira, even if he had to fight the Keeper.


	2. Spira

**Chapter 2 - _Spira_**

"Stay here and be the new champion? Forget it, I'm going back to Spira." Was this 'Keeper' seriously trying to convince Cloud to stay in the realm of the dead and stop the living from getting back home? To be honest he should've seen that coming, the guy turned the tasks into entertainment for the dead souls in this realm for Christ's sake.

The Keeper was quite scrawny, similar to Cloud's physique, his hair was grey, and he had a beard that was stylishly pointed. "You don't really think your old friends still remember you, do you? Do you even know how long it's been?" Cloud couldn't believe the nerve of this piece of shit.

"It's been two years, don't try and trick me with your bull shit," Cloud had now grabbed the Keeper by the shirt and the two guards that were also in the room had drawn their weapons "I'm going to Spira, so make it happen."

"As you wish." Cloud could tell from the look on the Keeper's face that he was a coward. He didn't see the point in the armed guards either, if the guy who defeated the champion had access to this place then what were two guards going to do? It didn't matter anyway; the Keeper was co-operating and began preparing some sort of portal.

Cloud was lead to another room. the sky was purple and there was a ston walkway towards a circular altar. It was strange, beneath them was nothing but the same shade of the sky. They hadn't gone upwards or anything, maybe it was the magic of the realm of the dead.

When he and the Keeper reached the circular altar a purple swirling mist appeared in the centre. "Ok, this portal will take you to Spira. Don't forget, the next time we see each other you belong to me. You'll be my champion one way or another."

Was Cloud interested in his words? Of course not. He simply continued walking towards the portal, ignoring whatever the slimy cockroach had to say.

Upon entering the portal, Cloud felt a weird tingling sensation. After it had settled an image of Spira appeared before him, he walked towards the image and the image started to become clearer until he could make out each individual landmark of the pilgrimage. Everything turned white and the tingling sensation had returned.

!~!

Cloud fell flat on the floor and his head was pounding. He blinked a few times to help his eyes adjust after seeing the blinding white light. Carefully he stood up and looked around.

From the broken ruins in the background and the several weapons sticking in the ground, including the Buster Sword, he assumed he was in Zanarkand. If it weren't for those things, he wouldn't have recognised the place. There was now a red rope surrounding the weapons and there was a bar of some sorts next to it. The bar appeared to be empty and a huge cheer could be heard in the distance. Behind the bar stood the tender.

"Hey, what's that cheering about?" Cloud had pin pointed the location of the cheering to the Blitzball stadium off in the distance.

"You didn't hear? Lady Yuna organised a concert, that's why there isn't much business today." Despite the bar tender's reasoning for business being slow, Cloud noticed there was a TV that was showing the concert live. Perhaps the people wanted to see it live rather than sit at a bar and watch it. His first instinct was to go straight to the stadium, but what was it Yuna had told him? 'We're treated like celebrities'. Cloud needed something to hide his identity, luckily the bar also had gift shop of some sorts.

"Is that black hoodie for sale?" It appeared as though the bar tender smiled when Cloud bought the old hoodie, maybe the fashion sense of the Spirian's was a lot different than the people of Gaea's. Regardless he also purchased an old duffle bag and went to work on his look.

Unfortunately, he couldn't change much. Cloud removed his single pauldron as well as his scabbard and fusion sword and stored them in the duffle bag before putting on the hoodie and pulling the hood over his head. His face was covered, and his iconic weapon was stored away, surely that would be enough to keep him undetected after all he hadn't been on Spira for over four years now.

Cloud was ready to head off until he saw an airship hover upwards from the stadium and jet off over his head. A quick glance over to the TV and he saw that the concert was over. Where was the ship going? Cloud decided to make his way to Besaid, Yuna had told him that Wakka and Lulu were staying there to get away from all the public attention so maybe they could call her or something.

!~!

One thing Cloud had noticed was the technological advancements the Spirian's had made. As he made his way down the path cars were driving past him on smooth tarmac roads. It was strange to think that just four years ago they were completely against the use of machina and now that it had been exposed that it wasn't the cause of Sin everyone owned at least one piece of machina. There were houses too, they were a lot better layed out than the ones on Gaea. Each one was arranged in blocks rather than randomly placed like most towns in Gaea were. The civilisation had changed so much. No doubt this was the work of AVALANCHE and the Al Behd combining their knowledge.

THUD! While Cloud was internally monologuing, he had somehow ended up on the floor of a drive way outside of someone's house. A car had hit him while he was walking, he should've been paying more attention.

"Oh god! Are you ok?" A woman's voice called to Cloud, a soft voice. His hood had fallen off in the process, however she didn't seem to recognise him. "I'm fine." He slowly stood up, the woman was trying to help him and grabbed his arm where the stigma used to be to try and lift him up.

"Are you sure? I did just hit you with my car. Look you're bleeding." Cloud hadn't realised that his head was bleeding. It mustn't have been that bad, well for him at least. This woman would just not give in, she kept trying to convince him to let her help. "At least come in for a cup of coffee, just so I know you're not gonna collapse in the middle of the street."

"Alright, you win." Cloud chuckled, and the woman seemed pleased that he agreed to come in. Her hair was blonde, and she had light brown eyes, the kind that you wouldn't be able to refuse. She was quite attractive, not that Cloud would do anything about it, his heart belonged to Yuna.

Inside, Cloud was lead to the kitchen where the woman started to make two cups of coffee and told him her name. Sarah Jones. "Sarah, huh? I'm-," Cloud had to stop himself from saying his real name, "I'm Zack. Zack Fair."

"You sure? You don't sound very confident," Sarah smiled when Cloud repeatedly assured her that it was his name. "So, Zack. Are you travelling or something? That duffle bag seems quite heavy."

"Yeah, actually. I'm on my way to Luca." Cloud wasn't completely lying, but he wasn't completely telling the truth. He was going to Luca, but he was also getting a boat to Besaid. Although Sarah didn't seem like the kind of person who would try to kill him, he couldn't risk anyone following him.

"Hm, off to the big city? Sounds nice, much better than Bevelle. Ever since Yevon was exposed that city has never been the same." Cloud hadn't seen Bevelle, but from what Yuna told him, he would have to agree. He was surprised to hear from Sarah that it was still the capital of Spira. "Anyway, you're walking to Luca? You don't have any transport," Cloud knew where this was going "I would gladly drive you down to the Calm Lands, so you can catch the train that goes striaght through Spira."

"Look, that's very thoughtful of you but don't worry about it. I'll be alright on my own." Sarah gave Cloud 'that look'. It wasn't the points that she made, it was her eyes. For some reason he couldn't say no to those brown globes. "Ok, ok. You win. How long is the drive?"

"Worst-case, 5 hours. The train should take maybe 12 to get to Luca, you'll get your own little room, so you can sleep if you want to." Voices could be heard from upstairs and Cloud's hand slowly started moving for his duffle bag. Sarah sighed "Could you give me a minute? The kids must be arguing again."

"Kids? Is the father around?" Speaking of fathers, Cloud hadn't forgotten what Jenova had told him. He may have killed her and avenged his father, but he still felt incomplete somehow. Maybe because the planet was destroyed as well was the reason why.

"No, my husband passed away last year." Sarah's entire expression had changed. What had Cloud done? "I'm sorry to hear that," He could see her tearing up. Cloud waved her over and invited her for a hug which she accepted. Lightly, Sarah sobbed into Cloud's chest. "I'm sorry about this, you don't even know me and I'm crying to you about my dead husband."

"Hey, it's alright. Sometimes you just gotta let it out. I know how you feel, I lost my best friend and the woman I loved. It gets easier, trust me." Cloud's words must've comforted her a little bit, she wasn't crying anymore.

"I better go check on the kids, why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable?" Cloud agreed and watched her walked up the stairs. He aimlessly made his way through the house and finally found the living room. Sipping on his coffee he took a seat on the couch and waited for Sarah to come back down.

What was he doing here? If Sarah got involved with Cloud's life, that could cause her and her kids harm. They've already lost a lot, was Cloud about to bring them into something that would cause them more pain?

Sarah was taking her time and Cloud had noticed that the shouting had stopped several minutes ago, he could still hear footsteps though. Paranoia grew in him as time went on, what if someone had been following him and snuck in? Luckily that wasn't the case.

"Sorry I took so long, I thought I might as well set your bed up." Cloud gave a confused look and Sarah explained that the train wouldn't be there for 2 days due to it being the new year. It seemed as though everyone was on a break. "You didn't know that everyone was off work and school?"

"In the army you never get a day off. I guess when I started doing a regular job the thought of a day off never occurred to me."

"You were a soldier?" Damn. Cloud had gotten carried away, he shouldn't have told her that. There was no turning back now. "Yeah, five years." It seemed as though Sarah could see Cloud's memories playing out in his eyes and she quickly changed the subject.

"So, how about dinner? You must be hungry." Cloud nodded in agreement and Sarah made her way to the kitchen. As she prepared the meal, she glanced over at 'Zack', as Cloud had called himself, and noticed a strange glow in his eyes. The sky blue eyes were very inviting, however she could see a lot of pain hidden behind them.

After Sarah had finished cooking dinner she called the kids down to eat. A boy and a girl, both looked around 12 years old. They took a seat at the table in the dining room and waited for their meal.

"Spaghetti and meatballs, just the way you like 'em." Sarah placed two servings in front of them, however their attention wasn't on the food. As Cloud walked in the room they both turned to look at him.

"Kids, this is Zack. He'll be staying here for a couple of days until the train to Luca starts running again. Zack, these are my kids Jack and Lilly." Cloud waved at them, however he didn't get one back from either of them. Jack seemed a little angry, while Lilly just seemed a bit shy.

Cloud took a seat at the head of the table and Sarah sat across from him on the other end. Jack and Lilly were sat across from each other as well in the middle. Sarah placed a serving in front of Cloud and he thanked her.

Sarah and the kids were having a normal family conversation while Cloud sat back and ate his meal. He guessed that the two thought he was here to replace their dad. Jack didn't like the thought one bit, but Lilly just seemed to be quiet about it. One thing was for sure, he wasn't here to replace anyone. Cloud would spend the two nights here until the train started running again and then get out of their hair.

"-isn't that right Zack?" Cloud must've drifted into his own world and missed the conversation, luckily Sarah repeated her question. "I was just saying to Jack that you used to be in the army. He fancies himself as the next Sir Auron, surely you must have a few fighting techniques you could share with him."

"I want to be like Sir Auron, not just a common soldier." Cloud got the sense that Jack was a bit of an arse-hole. He wasn't surprised, losing a family member was hard at a young age and a lot of kids deal with it differently. Jack reminded Cloud of himself actually.

He noticed Sarah was about to say something to Jack for being rude to Cloud but he made eye contact with her and made a suttle gesture not to bother. "Sir Auron, huh? How about Cloud Strife? I hear he was a little bit better than Auron." Did Cloud say something wrong? Everyone dropped whatever they had in their hands at the sound of Cloud's name and they all went silent. Sarah moved things along quickly and changed the subject. He was confused, but Cloud went along with the new subject. As they spoke the lights began to flicker. "God damn it. We can't afford to fix these lights again."

"Want me to take a look at them tomorrow?" Cloud was no handyman, but he had picked up a few tricks from Cid and knew how to fix a few things. Sarah asked him if he was sure and of course he said yes, it was the least he could do after everything she had agreed to do for Cloud.

After Cloud finished his meal Sarah showed him to his room for the two nights he would be staying. "If you need anything just ask." Cloud smiled and nodded as she left the room. He was exhausted and as soon as his head touched the pillow he passed out into a deep sleep.

!~!

Cloud was up bright and early as per usual. When he got to the kitchen he noticed that Lilly was up too, she was in the living room. It felt strange to not be the first one up. She had inherited her mother's brown eyes and her hair was light brown, although her natural hair colour was the same as her mother's too. Cloud could see her blonde roots coming back in from where she had dyed her hair. He smiled and waved at her from the kitchen, she quickly turned away back to the TV.

Hunger struck Cloud and he grabbed some bread and threw it into the toaster. When it was ready he buttered it and carried it to the living room taking a seat next to Lilly. He saw her face turn red when he sat down, she must've been really shy.

Taking a glance at the TV, Cloud saw some sort of handyman program on. Lilly must've been into technology like Cid and Rikku. "You're into this kind of stuff then, huh?"

"Yeah." Lilly was quiet, and she kept her eyes on the screen, she didn't dare look at Cloud for some reason. "You into bikes as well then?" she nodded, and Cloud proceeded to talk about Fenrir "I used to have a motorbike, I called it Fenrir. I got it up to 300 kilometers per hour, it was the fastest thing I've ever driven." that seemed to peak Lilly's interest.

"300? How did you manage that?" Cloud smiled when she turned to look at him, it seemed as though he had broken through to her.

When Sarah came down she saw Cloud and Lilly working on the lights that were acting up last night. "Think you can hold that wire still? Attagirl, just keep it there. And we done," Cloud saw Sarah come through "Alright, you just screw those screws back in and hit the switch, yeah?"

"Yeah!" As Lilly started screwing in the screws Cloud made his way over to Sarah who was standing in shock. "Lilly is normally so shy with people she doesn't know. How did you-?"

"We have similar interests." Cloud shrugged and as Lilly flipped the switch the lights came on perfectly without any flickering or delays. Lilly jumped with joy and Cloud high fived her.

There was a sudden knock on the door which Lilly went to answer leaving Cloud and Sarah alone in the kitchen. "Sleep well?" Sarah asked as she made herself a cup of coffee. She had offered Cloud one, but he refused.

"Yeah, I haven't slept in a bed as comfy as that in a long time. Not since-"

"Mum! Is it alright if I go out with my friends?" Sarah told Lilly it was fine, and the door could be heard shutting. Cloud could also hear giggles when he waved her goodbye from the window. "You were saying?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Anyway, what about you? Did you sleep well?" Cloud didn't want to get into his past with a stranger right now, more importantly he didn't want to give himself away. Although he felt he could trust Sarah, he didn't know whether he would end up dragging her into something she didn't need to be in. It was for the best that she, nor the kids, found out who he really was.

"Yeah, one of the best sleeps I've had in a while actually," For a moment there was silence as Sarah sipped on her coffee, taking in Cloud's facial features once again. "Hey, so. Could I have your number?" Cloud raised his eyebrow at Sarah's question "Oh! No! I didn't mean, I just wanted it in case you went out and I wasn't in."

"It's ok, I know what you meant." Cloud laughed and typed his number in on Sarah's phone. He started typing the contact name as 'Cloud' until he realised and quickly changed it to Zack. Once he had finished he handed the phone back to Sarah.

"I've got to head out to the store, so call me if you need anything or if something happens, ok?" Cloud nodded and watched Sarah as he got her bag and keys together before walking out of the door and into her car.

Cloud waited a few minutes until he was certain Sarah had left. Lilly was out with her friends and Jack was probably still asleep, even if he wasn't it didn't seem likely that he would come down and talk to Cloud. He made his way back to his room and took the fusion sword out of the duffle bag. Just to make things less obvious as to who he was Cloud only took one of the back blades and left all of the others defused in the bag.

It was always good to practice, even if you were at the best of your ability you would still need to practice to maintain that. Cloud did his practicing in the back garden which was fenced off, so no one could see into it.

Ever since he got back to Spira, Cloud had noticed that he was still a bit stiff. Mainly he was focusing on just loosening up his movements, so he started with the basics. That didn't last very long. Cloud had moved onto more advanced moves a lot more quickly than he thought he would.

There was a noise behind Cloud, it was the sound of the back door closing. Instincts took over and he span around with his sword raised. Standing by the door was Jack. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Cloud turned back around and continued with his exercises, though he toned down the level a bit.

"You didn't scare me." Cloud smirked at the response from Jack who had started practicing in his own part of the garden. Cloud took a glance over his shoulder and saw him practicing with a stick, just like Denzel used to do.

Quietly, Cloud stopped his training and subtly turned around to watch Jack practice. The footwork and agility were there, but the technique in his swings was awful. It made Cloud smirk again, memories of his first swing of a sword kicked in. He thought he was good, that he was special, special enough to join SOLDIER. Look how that turned out.

"Try relaxing your shoulders when you swing." Jack stopped and seemed to tighten his grip on the stick. He mustn't have taken kindly to Cloud's advice. "How would you know what to do?" the words were spoken in agitation.

Cloud picked himself a stick up about the same size as Jack's. "Why don't I show you how I know?" That must've been music to Jack's ears, without any thought he ran at Cloud and took a heavy swipe. Cloud simply stepped out of the way. Jack came in with another attack, this time an ascending cut which Cloud blocked comfortably with one hand. He took one step forward, whilst their sticks were still locked, which caused his stick to touch Jack gently on the forehead. If Cloud had taken a more powerful step the impact would've been a lot greater.

"Dead." Jack disregarded Cloud's comment and charged again. This time he aimed to knock Cloud's stick out of the way to create an opening, a risky and unreliable maneuver. Cloud moved his stick down causing Jack to miss. Following on from that, he pressed the stick lightly into Jack's stomach. "Dead."

"Ugh!" Jack threw down his stick in anger and made his way back inside. "Hey! Do you think Sir Auron would just give up like that?" That got his attention. Jack came back and picked up his stick waiting for Cloud to give him something to do. He showed him the same basic techniques he had shown Denzel back when he was first starting out. They were really starting to have a good time, there were even a few laughs in there.

After about half an hour the two could hear voices coming from over the fence. "Hey, Jack! You coming out for a bit?" It was Jack's friends, they were asking him to come out with them. Jack looked to Cloud who motioned towards the door letting him know it was alright. As he made his way inside Cloud stopped him for a second "Hey. I just want you to know, I'm not here to replace your dad."

Cloud got a silent nod before Jack went into the house and then out of the front door. Finally he had broken through, it just took a harsh words. Before Cloud headed inside he made sure to take his sword in as well.

In his room Cloud sat on the bed and put his sword back into the duffle bag. He flipped his phone around in his hand, pondering whether he should call someone in AVALANCHE to let them know he was here. No, he wanted to surprise them.

It was getting late and the sun had gone down. Sarah had finally come back, but there was still no sign of Lilly or Jack. Cloud hadn't done much all day, despite this he was a little tired. Could the journey from the realm of the dead to Spira still be affecting him? Regardless, he made his way downstairs.

"Need a hand?" Cloud noticed all of the shopping bags piled up in the hallway with Sarah only managing to take two bags at a time into the kitchen. She nodded and Cloud proceeded to take the rest of the bags into the kitchen while Sarah put the contents away in the right place. "I'm gonna have a glass of wine, care to join me?"

"Sure," Cloud wasn't the biggest fan of wine, but the stuff Sarah had bought was actually quite nice. "This is some good stuff."

"I know, once I discovered it I couldn't go back to regular wine." Sarah had just finished her glass a few seconds after Cloud and both glasses were refilled. Not only was it good, it was strong as well. Cloud could handle a few glasses and not feel tipsy due to the mako in his blood, but Sarah couldn't handle it so well. They were three glasses in and Cloud could tell Sarah was already a little drunk. "Heh, you ok Sarah?"

"I'm great! You know, you never told me if you had a family." Could Cloud talk to her about this? She was drunk, and she probably wouldn't remember anyway so why not?

"I have an adopted son, and I used to have a girlfriend. I'm not sure if we're still on though, I haven't spoken to her in two years." He didn't mention any names; just in case she was still able to catch on. "Do you think it's still on?"

"I'm not sure. She might be seeing someone else, I really don't know." Sarah bit her bottom lip and she stood up. She hobbled over to where Cloud was sat and would've fallen over if he hadn't caught her. He felt an arm wrap around his back followed by another.

Sarah hugged Cloud and buried her head in his chest, he could hear her giggling away to herself. When she pulled away she looked up at Cloud and gazed into his glowing eyes. Cloud was confused by the silence until Sarah moved in closer to his face and her lips touched his. She was still going at him until Cloud moved away.

"Hey, hey, hey," Cloud kept a quiet tone, he didn't want to seem offended because he knew it was the alcohol messing with her mind. "I'm flattered, but I, uh..." There was a moment of silence.

"Can this not be weird. I think I just had a moment," Sarah was visibly embarrassed and knew she made a mistake "It must be that damn wine..."

"Yeah, it is strong. Look, all we have to do is forget about it and it won't be weird," Cloud smiled and Sarah looked a little better than she did during that period of silence "I'm gonna head upstairs and get some rest, long journey tomorrow."

Sarah wished Cloud a good night as he walked to his room. Cloud liked Sarah and he didn't want things to be awkward with her. He would have to talk to her about it in the morning and ensure her that it was alright, but right now all Cloud wanted to do was sleep. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes which sent him into a deep sleep.

"So, you made it out of the realm of the dead? I knew you would, you are the guardian of the lifestream, the last Cetra." It was the being again. Cloud thought it would be gone after the planet was destroyed, after all wasn't she connectedto the lifestream?

"I thought you would've been destroyed along side the planet and the lifestream."

"You think the planet was destroyed? You misunderstand, Spira and Gaea are one in the same. When I saw you defeat Jenova, I was able to create a protective barrier around the lifestream to save it. Although I could not save the people, the planet remained. What you call the 'Farplane' is the barrier I created." Then, Cloud didn't fail. He fulfilled his duty and saved the planet.

"Why are you here anyway?" Surely the being wasn't here to just tell Cloud that his planet and Spira were the same. There had to be something more. Normally when he got a visit it was because something bad was about to happen.

"Things are about to change for you, and not for the better. It is imperative that you do not tell anyone who you are or what you're doing. This family may already be at risk depending on how things go."

"Why are they at risk? Hey! Answer me!" It was too late, the being had already gone and the surrounding area had already started fading away into darkness. The darkness engulfed the light around Cloud until it was just him standing alone in the black nothingness.


	3. The Terrorist and The Murderer

**Chapter 3 - _The Terrorist and The Murderer_**

Cloud and Sarah had been driving for three hours now and they were getting close to the Calm Lands, it may have been four years since Cloud had been on Spira but he remembered the details of the world vividly and he knew where they were.

"So, there's going to be one stop at Bevelle and then it's straight to Luca from there. If I was you I would stay on the train, Bevelle's got a lot of crime nowadays." The two had been chatting away for the entire drive, they hadn't even acknowledged the kiss it's was almost as if it never happened.

"I'll keep that in mind." Cloud had no intention on staying put, if there was crime he was going to do his best to stop it. Also he wouldn't mind walking around for a bit, the journey was going to be 12 hours, he needed all the movement he could get.

Just around the corner Cloud saw the end of the tarmac road and a train station to the side of it. He didn't expect any machina in the Calm Lands, it was a sacred place that shouldn't be tampered with. Fortunately Cloud's expectations were met, in the distance he could see the same Calm Land as he had once seen before.

"I guess this is goodbye, Zack. Maybe we'll see each other again someday?" Cloud had just taken out his duffel bag when Sarah started to give him her farewells. He was sad to be leaving her, and to think they met because she hit him with her car. It's strange how things work out.

"Yeah, maybe." Cloud returned his farewells to Sarah and headed off to the train, which had just pulled up. There was an announcement from the overhead speakers saying that the train would set off in ten minutes which was enough time for Cloud to buy a ticket. The ticket may have gotten him on the train but it took all of his remaining gil to get it. It looked like he would be sneaking onto the ferry to Besaid.

When Cloud showed his ticket to the conductor he told Cloud to go to room 18. This was the first time Cloud had ever had a room on a train before, the idea of being able to sleep in a bed and not be disturbed by other passengers was like heaven to Cloud.

As he walked through the metal detector with his duffel bag, Cloud was worried for a moment that it would go off until he remembered that Rikku had tampered with the fusion sword so that it wouldn't set off metal detectors. Thank the gods for her skills in engineering and her lust for thievery, well maybe the thievery part wasn't so good.

One single bed, an old school TV and a small desk made up his room. There was also a window with curtains, which Cloud pulled shut straight away. He put his duffel bag on the bed and crashed out in the chair provided with the desk.

One hour to get to Bevelle, then eleven hours straight to Luca. At least Cloud would be riding in luxury and not on some uncomfortable seats like the ones on the Midgar train.

"We are currently five minutes away from Bevelle. Once we get there we will be back on the tracks after one hours."

Cloud didn't see the point in waiting at Bevelle for a whole hour. Why did people need so much time to get themselves organised? Regardless, this gave him a chance to take in the changes Bevelle had undergone. Sarah had told him there was a lot of crime these days, maybe he could do some right by the city.

After fifteen minutes of walking through the streets of the packed city, Cloud had finally found something to help with. Not to far away from him he heard gunfire and there was a man running away with the gun in his hand as well as a bag full of money.

Cloud had only brought the main blade of the fusion sword in his duffel bag, he left the rest of the swords behind to make things easier. Swiftly, Cloud ran after the armed man, taking the fusion sword out of the duffel bag as he did. He had to be careful though, he only had the hoodie he had bought on, his shoulder pad was back with his swords.

The gunner must've seen Cloud coming as a few bullets were shot in his direction which were blocked easily due to Cloud's mako enhancements as well as the girth of his sword. Sirens were also coming from behind Cloud now, the police maybe?

They were now in a quiet section of the city where there were hardly any civilians, this guy obviously wasn't intending on using his gun on anyone. Just then, the gunner made a sharp turn which beat the police, but not Cloud. One, two, three bullets were shot at Cloud which he was able to block.Again Cloud's enemy tried to fire a spray of bullets, however he had ran out of ammo. With one swing of his fusion sword he cut the gun in half leaving the criminal defenceless.

"Freeze! Drop your weapon," The police mustn't have seen that it was Cloud so he turned around and took a step forward to try and show them "I said drop it!"

"Don't worry it's-" Before Cloud could even finish his sentence, the police started firing bullets at him. All Cloud did was block them, but if this kept up the real criminal would get away. When the police went to reload, Cloud pounced. One strike to the head with the hilt of his sword and the first was down, the other had taken cover behind the car. Cloud slid along the bonnet and repeated the same attack.

Gone. The real criminal had escaped. Why did the police try to shoot Cloud? He was trying to help them. Perhaps they thought he and the criminal were partners. Normally Cloud would try and track down the criminal, but he had wasted half an hour chasing down the criminal and fending off the police. If he wasn't careful the train would leave without him.

Cloud lied down on his bed and turned on the TV, which was on the news channel. There was a

caption at the bottom, 'breaking news'.

"The murderer and terrorist Cloud Strife has been sighted," Murderer? Terrorist? Cloud jerked up onto his feet. What the hell were they talking about? "Footage recovered from the dash camera of a police car, combined with facial recognition has confirmed that the ex-guardian is indeed alive."

What was going on? Why would Cloud be a murderer, a terrorist? He saved Spira from Sin did he not? He was going to get answers as soon as he made it to Besaid, but right now he had to lay low.

There were murmurs coming from outside of Cloud's room. He heard his name being thrown about, there was fear in their voices. Cloud began to wonder, was that the reason Sarah and her kids went so quiet when he mentioned his own name while he was undercover?

Immediately, Cloud shut the blind on the window and locked his door. More than ever now he needed to get to Besaid to explain his situation before the authorities caught him. They might already know his location, after all there was no reason for Sarah to not tell them where he was heading and how.

"We can only hope that the heroes of Spira will prevail and put down this menace." Cloud assumed that the reporter was talking about Yuna and the others. Hopefully they would hear him out and come to know the truth that Cloud was set up. Being set up was the only solution Cloud could come up with, he hadn't been here for two years that must've been it.

"Thirty minutes, until we arrive at Luca. Please make sure you have all of your belongings with you before you get off the train." Cloud had already gathered his things anyway. His swords were in his scabbard on his back and his shoulder pad was securely on his shoulder. During the chase he had to ditch his duffel bag which was inconvenient and it also meant he had to stay hidden along the mi'ihen highroad as well as in Luca.

He couldn't very well walk straight off the train with all of his swords on view, so he would have to get off a different way. When he was sure that the hallway was clear he made his way to the emergency hatch on the roof of the train and climbed through it. The wind was stronger than he first anticipated which caused him to nearly lose his balance, but he managed to stay on his feet and adjust to the strong gale that blew against him.

Up ahead Cloud could see the train station coming up, it was now or never. Cloud leaped down from the train and onto the train tracks. Hastily he made his way into the highroad and took in his surroundings. After taking a moment to adjust himself Cloud knew exactly where he was. If he took a right turn he would be on his way to Luca, he wasn't actually that far away either. While the train would've taken him straight to Luca it wouldn't have been the wisest choice trying to sneak out of a train with several weapons on your back.

The road had changed since last Cloud had seen it, not much but it had changed. There were houses lined down the road on either side, it wasn't like in Zanarkand or Bevelle where they were in blocks this time they were just scattered about. The houses themselves weren't as nice either and many of them were actually empty, Cloud wasn't surprised. Why would you want to live on a road full of fiends?

Speaking of fiends, a few of them had popped up while Cloud was walking down the road. They were low level and easy to deal with whilst also trying to stay hidden. The number of them had started dying down though which was a good sign, he must've been getting close to Luca. He started to hear the sound of people and the smell of manure had started to fade away as well. At last the gate was just ahead, he had arrived. Cloud noticed there were guards at the entrance which meant he would have to take a side entrance.

After entering the city, Cloud recognised everything. Nothing had changed about the city, not the blitzball stadium, not the abstract designs of buildings, nothing. This was the Spira Cloud knew. Although he couldn't walk around in plane sight he could tell it was all the same just from the atmosphere. Luca was always full of excitement.

A sudden cheer could be heard from the blitzball stadium and the name Tidus could be heard. Maybe he should try to convince Tidus that he had been framed? The thought definitely crossed his mind but he decided against it. What if Tidus didn't believe Cloud? He would have to end up fighting his way through Luca and possibly ruin his chances of getting to Besaid as well as making his image even worse than it already wrongly was.

A name Cloud didn't hear was Wakka's. Perhaps he had followed through with his word and retired from blitzball, or maybe he needs to stay in Besaid and look after Vidina, his son. How old would he be now? They spent a few months on Gaea and then Cloud was in the realm of the dead for two years, so he must've been getting close to three years old. As for Cloud, he was twenty six now and Yuna was twenty two. What about Denzel and Marlene? They must be thirteen, fourteen this year. He wondered whether Denzel had been practicing his swordplay, maybe Tidus had been teaching him, maybe he had a teacher, maybe he had quit. Cloud didn't know the answer. Denzel always wanted to be like Cloud, maybe that had changed since this terrorist thing happened and maybe that caused him to stop training.

Cloud started poking around in the docks trying to see if he could hear any whispers of a ship to Besaid and luckily he heard one straight away, it was leaving in half an hour and it was only a cargo ship. It looked like Cloud wasn't going to be riding in the same style he had during his train journey, he wasn't complaining though, he had been in worse conditions than this.

Thanks to his military training and a few tips he picked up from Vincent, Cloud was able to sneak into the loading area. With one leap and a stealth roll to get back on his feet, he was in. The cargo bay was full of boxes with various things in them, ranging from food to metal pipes. It was dark too, but he could hear the workers moving around on deck above him. Cloud needed to avoid them, the last thing he wanted or needed was to get into a massive fight with an entire crew.

The twelve hour journey to Luca on the train didn't seem like twelve hours because he had a TV that he could use to pass the time. This two hour journey seemed like forever, there was nothing for Cloud to do other than wait for it to be over. To pass the time he had started looking in the boxes, he thought that maybe there was something interesting in them, but of course he was wrong. Nothing but a bunch of scrap metal. He was literally wasting away from boredom, but a sudden loud noise Cloud identified as the horn of the ship quickly changed that.

They had finally arrived. Cloud made sure that he got off first to avoid the confrontation with the crew members and because he was desperate to see Yuna's face once again. He knew that he was deemed as a terrorist and a murderer but all he cared about at the moment was seeing Yuna. Cloud was still wearing his necklace that matched Yuna's, he grasped it tightly and closed his eyes for a moment before continuing down the path to the village.

Cloud found himself at the entrance to Besaid and there she was with her back faced to him. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open. After coming to his senses, Cloud smiled and approached her slowly. "Yuna," Cloud reached out to touch her, but his hand went straight through her "huh?"

"Now!" Cloud heard a voice and in his peripheral vision he saw something coming towards him, a grenade? Swiftly, he rolled to the side to avoid the explosion, however immediately after it a spray of bullets were shot his way. He had already drawn the main blade of the fusion sword and started blocking the bullets. Cloud recognised the shooters, Vincent and Barret were firing at rapid speeds.

"Wait! Let me expla-" They weren't giving him any room to talk or breathe, the bullets kept coming. Eventually they had to reload and Cloud was going to deal with them but all of a sudden Cid and Kimahri came from out of nowhere. Cid came from the left and Kimahri came from the right, they were both lunging in with their spears. Cloud stepped back causing both of their spears to impale the ground and form an x. Kimahri's face was one of pure anger, his fangs were bared and the growl coming from him was ferocious. One of the spears was driven upwards which Cloud had to block. Attacks came in at high speeds from both of them causing Cloud to block them in very quick succession. The pair crossed their spears and simultaneously struck them downwards at Cloud who lodged his sword in between the spears. With one forceful push and a battle cry from Cloud the two spear masters were launched backwards a few centimetres. Thankfully for Cloud he saw Paine running at him in the reflection on his sword and managed to turn on his heels fast enough to block her sneak attack. She came in again and Cloud was able to parry and counter her strike with an upwards diagonal swing. Cloud knew she would dodge it and so he followed up with an unexpected kick to the chest knocking her down on the floor.

Even though they were trying to hurt him, he didn't want to hurt them. The bullets started coming in again causing Cloud to move his attention away from Paine. This time he had to take them out otherwise he would eventually let a bullet through. Just then in the corner of his eye Cloud saw two objects coming straight at him, Wakka's ball and Yuffie's shiruken. Cloud jumped in the air and spiralled in order to dodge the two weapons. While he was spinning, he grabbed Wakka's ball and launched it straight at Cid who was hit to the floor and knocked out. Just as he fell the rest of the bullets flew over his body. If Cloud hadn't thrown Wakka's ball then Cid would be seriously hurt right now. As Cloud landed the bullets stopped and he lunged at Vincent and Barret. He dealt with Vincent first, knocking him out cold with the hilt of his blade. Barret tried to punch Cloud in the face however he ducked underneath the punch and repeated his last attack putting both shooters out of commission. Kimahri came in again and this time it was one on one. Cloud was able to deal with the attacks a lot more comfortably and eventually got the better of Kimahri, kicking him out as well. Only Paine remained. The parry and counter game continued for a while and they were at a stalemate. Neither one could penetrate the others defence and their fight ended up taking them right into the centre of the village. Unexpectedly Paine pushes Cloud away and then retreated. By the time Cloud figured out what was happening it had already happened.

A smoke bomb had been set off and the smoke had some kind of toxin in it causing Cloud to become dizzy. He couldn't keep his eyes open and his legs were struggling to keep him upright. Eventually Cloud couldn't take anymore and he fell to the ground. His vision was blurry and he saw a pair of legs walking up to him. "You're quite the trouble maker." That was the last thing he heard before he passed out completely.


	4. The Regretful Reunion

**Chapter 4 - _The Regretful Reunion_**

Streaks and blurs covered Cloud's vision. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were unable to move. They were bound behind his back and around a wooden pole. The bindings were heavy too, from the feel of them and the noise they made, Cloud identified them as chains. Upon further observation he noticed that his fusion sword was gone, as well as his phone.

There were to figures standing over Cloud, he couldn't quite make out who they were but they appeared to be kissing. Cloud tried to make some smart remark but he ended up just groaning. At least that got their attention.

"So, the traitor awakes," That voice, that was Seifer "it seems like you're losing your skill in battle. The younger Cloud would've seen my smoke bomb coming, actually that Cloud wouldn't even be in this situation. He wasn't a traitor." At last Cloud's vision was coming back and he could make out the faces of the people in front of him. He was right about Seifer and the other, the one he was kissing, was…Yuna?

"Yu..na..?" When Cloud said her name Seifer motioned to her to leave the two alone. Cloud was quickly woken up by a bucket full of cold water being thrown into his face. His muscles tensed and his eyes were wide open. Adrenaline ran through his veins and the grip he had on the chains tightened.

"Why did you do it Cloud? Why did you kill all of those Ronso families? Why did you blow up those buildings in Bevelle? Huh?" Cloud made a confused face which was met by a backhand slap to the face. "Don't act dumb! We saw you kill them!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I've only been on Spira for a week if that," Cloud was greeted by another backhand, "is this how it is Seifer? You get your info by torturing your prisoners? Do the others know about this?"

"Shut your mouth!" This time it was a punch in the gut. That confirmed it. The others had no idea about his unethical methods. Cloud had started breathing heavily after that last blow, it knocked the wind right out of him. No matter how much it hurt, Cloud needed to provoke Seifer so that he would get frustrated and try to get information from him later, that would give Cloud some time to escape.

"Your punches couldn't hurt a kid, let alone a mako infused SOLDIER," another strike to the stomach, "come on! Make an effort!" Two more hits came in which caused Cloud to cough, "that's the best you can do?"

Seifer grunted and punches Cloud one more time before walking away in frustration. Cloud let out a deep breath of air when he was out of sight, Seifer couldn't know that Cloud was weak after that. More than anything, Cloud was angry. What was Seifer doing kissing Yuna? Why was Yuna letting him? That could wait for a later timer, right now Cloud had to find a way to get out of these chains.

What was it that Zack had told him when they were training together? A team is always stronger than an individual person, maybe this applied in Cloud's current situation. If he focused on breaking a single link rather than pulling apart the entire chain maybe he could break free. It was worth a try, Cloud went to work on one of the links. With each pull, each twist, each bend the metal got hotter and softer. Slowly it became easier to bend the metal link and eventually it snapped causing all of the chains to fall off of Cloud's hands.

In Seifer's frustrated state he must've forgotten to send someone to keep watch of Cloud as no one was there to stop him from sneaking away. He stealthily made his way round to where the temple used to be, it was the same building but it seemed to have been converted into a workplace for Seifer. That was probably the best place to start to get back his things. Just as he approached the building an airship passed overhead. Could that be Seifer?

The old temple was heavily guarded, Cloud was almost caught quite a few times but he had made it to the room on the far right of the temple. There was a notice on the door 'restricted', that must've been where they were keeping his things. When he entered the room, his sword was on a table and blueprints were on top of it, it seemed like Seifer was trying to make a copy. Cloud's phone was also there hooked up to a computer, on the screen there was a location from a bird's eye view. He took his phone and sword and proceeded back outside heading for the beach.

Cloud didn't expect to see her on the beach. It was Yuna. She was standing a few centimetres away from the sea and she was staring out at the horizon. At first he thought that it was another hologram, but when the water from the sea splashed against her and not through her he knew she was real. Cautiously, Cloud removed his scabbard with his sword in it and approached her unarmed.

"Yuna," Just as Cloud expected she whirled around and pointed her gun at him, it was good to see that she still knew how to defend herself. He put his hands up and carried on talking "Listen, I've got no idea what's going on. I haven't even been on Spira for a full week yet and I found out that I'm somehow a terrorist."

"Why should I believe that when I saw with my own eyes you killing those Ronso!" Yuna had taken a few steps forward to look Cloud in the eye. How could he prove that it was really him? Maybe there was something wrong with the imposter. His mind lit up and he reached for the necklace he had around his neck. When Yuna moved in closer he slowed down and pulled the necklace out from underneath his shirt. He placed it on the floor and took a few steps back to allow Yuna to collect it.

"That's why you should believe me, would a terrorist care about that? Would a terrorist cherish that?" Yuna's face looked puzzled. She opened the green pendent and found the picture of herself.

"But, I saw you destroy this. You did it right in front of my face and that's how we broke up." Broke up? This made things complicated. Cloud knew he hadn't been on Spira for long, Auron told him which meant someone was posing as Cloud and giving him a bad name. If things didn't go the way he wanted to here, that would be his next move.

There was a sudden ringing sound coming from Yuna's pocket, it was her phone. She took it out and answered it keeping her gun pointed at Cloud. He could hear the speaker from here, they were shouting that loud. It was Seifer and he seemed to be in some sort of distress.

"Cloud's here! He must've escaped and snuck on board! He took the family, we need help fending off his men!" Cloud and Yuna both looked at each other, she knew the truth. Quickly she told Seifer that it was an imposter and that he had been framing Cloud for the past two years. What did Seifer say? 'He took the family'?

"Where are they?" Yuna's answer wasn't what Cloud wanted to hear. "They're at a house where you stayed for two days according to Seifer's analysis of your phone location."

Although Cloud wanted to hug Yuna and talk with the others, he couldn't. Immediately he picked up his scabbard and swords up from the floor and made his way into the village.

"Cloud, wait!" He felt a pair of arms wrap around him in relief. Cloud wanted to savour the moment but they didn't have enough time. "I knew it couldn't be true, you would never do any of those things."

"Yuna, we need to help this family. I didn't know them long but they did so much for me and I need to repay the debt." The look in Cloud's eye informed Yuna how serious he was about this. She nodded and lead him to the second airship.

Cloud was in the ship with Yuna, Kimahri and Barret, the latter two didn't seem convinced of Cloud's story, however Yuna assured them it was true. Kimahri hadn't taken his eyes off of Cloud since he got on the ship, he didn't blame the Ronso though. This imposter had killed innocent Ronso families, if an imposter of Kimahri killed a bunch of people in Nibelheim he would be doing the same right now.

"One wrong move and yo' spiky ass is goin' overboard!" Barret towered over Cloud as he threatened him, he just remained calm. It was too early to start cracking jokes, once Cloud caught the imposter that would prove his innocence.

"There they are!" Yuna pointed out of the window and down on the ground where Seifer, Wakka and Paine were fighting men dressed in sleek black clothing. Cloud made his way above to the deck, ignoring the shouts from Barret. He drew his sword and jumped down to aid his allies.

Wakka had thrown his ball at an enemy and another was about to strike him down until Cloud blocked the strike mid air and flipped over the top of the enemy. He landed on his feet and struck from behind, slashing the enemy diagonally downwards from the right along his back. Wakka was confused and had loss his sense of fighting strategy.

"Duck!" Cloud commanded Wakka who did so, causing a sword belonging to the enemy to cut through the air and miss Wakka. In retaliation Wakka elbowed the black suited foe in the stomach following with a kick to the chest.

When Wakka regained sense of what was happening Cloud left him and moved further towards the house. It seemed like the followers of Cloud's doppelgänger thought he was their ally as they didn't attack him, that made things a lot easier.

Paine was up against a wall being attacked, it looked like she was struggling. Cloud grabbed the back of the collar of the enemy and pulled him away from Paine. He feinted left then struck from the right knocking his opponent down on the ground.

Inside the house, Seifer was using some kind of gun that made a wall of energy or something. Cloud couldn't comprehend how he was stopping three well trained warriors back with it, but they were starting to get the better of him. Cloud ran in front of Seifer and slashed all three of them across the body in a perfectly straight horizontal line.

Cloud called for the kind family that took him in but there was no answer. Seifer has positioned himself in front of the door and was trying to question Cloud, however he just barged past and went straight to the enemy he knocked down. He grabbed the grunt by the ruff of his collar and gave him two options.

"Either you tell me where you took the family or I break your legs, the choice is yours." Cloud was looking at him right in the eye, piercing through his mask of bravery.

"I-I don't know, I swear. All I know is that one of the kids got away, the girl, just don't hurt me please!" Cloud threw him back on the floor and let Seifer cuff his hands.

Yuna, Kimahri and Barret had just arrived and stood next to Paine and Wakka, who were looking confused as to why Cloud helped them. He didn't blame them, for the past two years they thought he was a terrorist and a murderer.

"I know, you're confused but I'm not the enemy. Someone has been impersonating me for the past two years, I've only been on Spira for about a week now. I know it's hard to trust me but lives are at stake here."

When Cloud finished explaining and Yuna backed him up the others looked to Seifer for orders, which was unusual for Cloud. He was used to everyone looking to him for orders, was Seifer the new leader?

"We need to look for-" Cloud tried to take the lead but Seifer interrupted him and started splitting the party up. Wakka, Paine and Kimahri were told to find the location of Sarah and Jack, Barret was going to Kilika to check on the others which left Cloud, Yuna and Seifer to find Lilly. Seifer was obviously still suspicious of Cloud, but he didn't care because he had nothing to hide.

Cloud never did like following orders, why should he only look for Lilly? He could look for all three of them, but Seifer wasn't letting him. Did Cloud really care what Seifer thought if he didn't follow orders?

There was something missing in the house, Sarah's phone was nowhere to be seen. This was a turning point.

"Hey, fearless leader," Seifer didn't appreciate Cloud's joke but he still acknowledged him, "if I ring Sarah's phone, you think you can track the location?"

"We're supposed to be looking for the girl not the mother." Hearing that made Cloud annoyed, they had names. He gave Seifer a look that said he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Seifer nodded although he didn't seem happy that Cloud was challenging his authority. The phone rang and Cloud waited for an answer.

"H-hello?" That wasn't Sarah's voice, it was the voice of a scared, innocent girl. "Zack?" Lilly sounded shaken by what she had seen and Cloud wasn't surprised. She knew his real name but still called him Zack, it must've been because she had come to know him as Zack and not Cloud.

"Yeah, it's me. Listen sweetie, the man that took your brother and mom wasn't me, he's been pretending to be me for the past two years. You need to trust me, alright?" Seifer pointed to his laptop screen which showed that her phone was coming from the blitzball stadium.

"I need you to go to the guardian memorial, you think you can do that for me?" Cloud heard a sound that sounded like a yes and hung up. He wasted no time, Yuna and Seifer were scrambling to get their things together.

Cloud couldn't lie, the fact that those two were a couple now hurt him a little. He knew that things couldn't just go back to how they were before, it didn't work like that. It could be that they stay together forever and Seifer would always be the leader of the group, only time would tell. The flirting from Seifer didn't help with Cloud's anger either. As they travelled that was all he could hear coming from behind him. Yuna was giggling but Cloud could tell she was trying to contain it to try and not hurt him.

It didn't take them long to get to the memorial. Cloud was back where he started and it was good to see the Buster Sword still standing high along with the other weapons. He was surprised they left the Buster Sword there, then again could anyone without mako enhancements pull it out of the ground?

Cloud saw Lilly sitting beside the memorial and approached her. He didn't know what to expect, but as long as she was safe it was fine. Unexpectedly she ran to Cloud and hugged him. Her tears seeped into his clothes, he could almost feel the fear being transferred to him.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna find your mom and Jack." Seifer was on the phone to the others behind Cloud, he was informing them that they had found Lilly. They needed to drop her off somewhere, they couldn't bring her with them to fight Cloud's imposter.

"Where's Tifa and the kids?" It wasn't just the fact that they needed to keep Lilly safe as to why he asked, Cloud hadn't seen Tifa, Denzel or Marlene in so long and right now he needed to see them. Kilika was the answer he got and Yuna could see that Cloud was desperate so she suggested to Seifer that they drop Lilly off at Kilika.

As the airship landed Cloud saw through the window people running over to take pictures of them. Seifer and Yuna exited first with Lilly following behind them looking rather flabbergasted by the situation. Cloud didn't know what to expect when he stepped out, would the people cheer him or be shocked into silence. Seifer told him that he had informed the authorities and news stations that Cloud wasn't a terrorist, but news surely didn't travel that fast did it?

Looking through the exit Cloud saw Tifa greet them, Denzel and Marlene were by her side too. He took a deep breath and stepped down. The sound of his boots turned everyone's gaze towards the airship and away from Seifer and Denzel.

When Cloud's face appeared there were some gasps and a few claps from the people who must've heard the news. There was only three people Cloud was looking at though and their eyes were fixed on him as well.

A smile crept onto Cloud's face as his childhood friend came rushing to him with open arms. Denzel and Marlene soon followed and all three of them were in his arms. They didn't say anything, they just stayed there embracing each other for a few moments.

Tifa eventually released her crushing grip on Cloud and her face instantly changed from happy to angry, she punched him in the arm and started shouting.

"You jerk! You had us all thinking Jenova had control of you! Where have you been!?" Cloud just chuckled at Tifa's way of saying I missed you.

"Heh, yeah I missed you to Tifa," That changed her expression back to a mixture of happiness and relief, "I missed you guys as well. I hope you've both been practicing your fighting." Cloud had crouched down to Denzel and Marlene's height. He didn't have to go down very far though, they had grown so tall.

Cloud's eyes widened, there was fast movement coming from behind the crowd. Their reunion would have to wait. He wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword readying himself for battle. What came out from behind the crowd wasn't what he was expecting.

"Big C!" Rikku launched herself over the crowd and on top of Cloud causing him to fall over. Denzel and Marlene piled on top of him and joined Rikku in trying to crush him. They were all laughing, that was something Cloud hadn't heard in a while.

"The Kinderguardians? And you're both apart of this?" Denzel had told Cloud about the group he and Marlene were in along with Pacce and Shinra. They went on small adventures looking for spheres on the island, they were like a mini version of AVALANCHE.

"Me and Pacce are the sword fighters, Marlene is the puncher and Shinra is the brains." Cloud smirked a little. It seemed like they had it all figured out.

"You'll have to bring me along on one of your adventures then." Denzel nodded and ran to his team members to plan their next move, it was good to see they were getting Lilly involved. For Cloud things weren't all fun and games though, he entered Tifa's hut where everyone was waiting for him.

Seifer must've started without him because he was in the middle of saying something when Cloud walked in.

"You decided to show up then? Under my leadership tardiness isn't tolerated, you'll do well to learn that." What was with Seifer? Cloud didn't like to swear but he was being a dick about everything recently.

Cloud didn't reply and just meant against the wall behind the seats. Yuna, Tifa and Rikku occupies the sofa while Seifer had taken the single chair facing the sofa.

"As I was saying, the boy likely had his phone on him. All we need to do is find a way to reach that phone and I'll be able to track the location," Cloud wasn't completely satisfied with Seifer's plan but it was the only one they had, "we can use the mother's phone that the girl had with her tomorrow, but until then we should rest."

Everyone had gone to their rooms, Tifa was in her hut with the kids and Yuna Rikku and Seifer were using the cabins on the airship. Cloud was supposed to be staying in Tifa's hut but he gave up his bed to Lilly who needed it more than him. He was going to stay in one of the cabins on the airship but he couldn't stand the sight of seeing Yuna and Seifer together.

Cloud made his way to the docks. All of the huts had been moved to where the forest was. At least three quarters of the forest still remained though and there were still a few stores on the dock.

The slight tingle of the orange glow had faded away a few minutes ago now and Cloud was stood at the end of the dock being bathed in the moonlight. All he did was stare out at the sea until he noticed that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Again? What is it this time?" The lifestream spirit was back, what was her connection to Cloud? Why did she choose him and not one of the others?

"You don't sound very happy about me being here. What troubles you?"

"It's just, every time you show up it's always because something bad is about to happen." Her appearance only put Cloud in a worse mood. Something bad always happened when she showed up, she would never answer any of his questions and she wouldn't even tell him who she was.

"I assure you that nothing bad will happen, I thought it was time you got some answers that's all." Was the spirit actually cooperating with Cloud for once?

"How can I be a Cetra if I can't use the powers of the Cetra?" That question had been on Cloud's mind for a while now. The powers of the Cetra were said to be legendary so if he was a Cetra why couldn't he use these powers?

"The powers of the Cetra have been lost for generations. The Cetra are the planet protectors chosen by beings of the lifestream just like I chose you. Although you don't have the powers the title of Cetra is still bestowed upon you."

So it appeared that Cloud had the title of Cetra, but he didn't have their powers. To be honest, Cloud didn't mind. Over time he stopped relying on magic and summon materia and focused more on using his own skills and enhancing them with command materia. It was safe to say that he wasn't the flashy type.

"One more question. Do you know where my imposter is?" The spirit nodded and Cloud thought for a moment. This was his problem, he needed to do it by himself. There was no doubt that Seifer had planted a tracking device so they would be able to pick him up when he had finished the job. Although, would the others become suspicious of him? He could still ask where the imposter was at least.

"They're right here," the response confused Cloud and evidently so as the spirit continued on, "not too far from the forest there's an abandoned island, that is the hideout." before Cloud knew it the spirit faded away leaving him alone in the shining moonlight once more.

If Cloud told Seifer where they were there was no way that he would believe him. Maybe the others would but they wouldn't go against Seifer's orders. It was time for Cloud to go on a solo mission, but he didn't know where this island was or what it looked like. How was he meant to find it? That was it, Cloud knew exactly what to do. Would he succeed in his mission? Only time will tell whether he would be able to rescue Sarah and Jack as well as confront his imposter.


	5. The Island

**Chapter 5 - _The Island_**

"Come on this way!" Cloud's slumber was put to an end when he heard the Kinderguardians approaching the hut. He stood up from the couch just as they all came through the door. It was only 10:00 am but that was actually quite late for Cloud, he didn't sleep well at all last night. It must've been the thought of his imposter being so close yet so far away.

"You ready Cloud?" Denzel and the others were all looking at him waiting for an answer. He must have been talking about one of their adventures. Although it was the last thing Cloud wanted to do at the moment, it could actually help him. Maybe there was an island that they were told not to go near or something, if there was then he would've found the base of his imposter.

Cloud told them to wait outside for him and he could hear their excitement through the walls of the hut. He heard murmurs through the walls as well, murmurs of the townsfolk. They still didn't trust him, there were probably a lot of people on Spira who still thought Cloud wasn't trustworthy. As soon as he caught the imposter those doubts would be crushed.

The kids were still waiting outside. Cloud took his fusion sword and made his way through the door.

"So where are we heading?" Cloud followed the Kinderguardians through the forest behind the village, he let them deal with the fiends mainly because he knew they weren't that dangerous.

Denzel told Cloud to look out for any treasure along the way. He didn't like taking orders but this was different, he actually found it kind of funny taking orders from his kid.

Denzel and Marlene were surprisingly good at fighting, Cloud was impressed. Marlene was obviously taught by Tifa, the only weapon she wielded was a pair of gloves. Denzel must've been taught by Tidus, he was the only other swordsman besides Cloud in the group.

It looked like there was a fiend giving the group a lot of trouble. Shinra's bullets weren't piercing it's armoured skin, Marlene couldn't get past its guard and the two swordsmen, Denzel and Pacce, had their swords rendered useless. Every armour had a chink and that's what Cloud looked for as he ran at the fiend. There! A small gap between it's collarbone and neck.

"Denzel! Aim for the gap between its neck and collarbone!" Cloud's command was executed perfectly by the young swordsman. He jumped into the air and dug his sword straight into that chink. Denzel had a future in sword fighting, Cloud could tell by the way he moved during his attack.

Cloud and the Kinderguardians kept moving through the forest until they eventually came to the edge where water flowed in and out of the shore along the sandy surface. In the distance there was a mist, something was in the centre. There was a silhouette of a big shape, Cloud recognised it as an island. That must've been it.

"Hey. That island, know anything about it?" Cloud had pulled Denzel to one side to speak with him privately. If Marlene heard anything about it she would go straight to Tifa, but he knew Denzel would understand why he had to go alone.

"The elders say it's cursed. They say that only those with the strongest willpower can enter and leave the island. How come you're interested?" Cloud didn't see the trouble in going there. He had demonstrated the strength of his willpower many times.

"I think someone giving me a bad name is on that island. Listen, I don't want the others to know alright? This isn't their fight."

"Sorry Cloud, but the elders say it's impossible to enter without a partner. There difficult tasks that can only be solved by at least two people." That wasn't good news. Even if these tasks required two people, Cloud would at least have to try by himself.

Night had fallen again and the sky was dark. There were no stars that Cloud could see as he stood on the beach, just a black canvas drowned in mist.

Cloud heard a ring, it sounded like chimes hitting against one another. To his left was a small rowing boat, just big enough for two people. It was as if the boat was calling him, compelling him to row to the island.

Just as Cloud was about to get in the boat he heard rustling coming from the outskirts of the forest. Denzel must've told Tifa about Cloud's plan. The person who came out was the last one Cloud would've expected considering the current events.

Yuna emerged from the forest to find Cloud stepping into the boat to cross over to the forbidden island. Just like Denzel said he was trying to go alone.

"You haven't changed," Cloud heard Yuna speak but he carried on preparing the boat, "you know you'll never get on the island without help."

"I have to try, why did you come of all people anyway?" Cloud didn't expect Seifer would let her out of his sight so easily, especially not when it was Cloud she was seeing.

"Believe it or not I actually do still care about you. Even if I am with Seifer it doesn't change the fact that you're my friend." Cloud didn't know what to think at this point. He knew Yuna would let this go and the most important thing at the moment was capturing that imposter, "Fine, get in."

The ride was silent for most of the trip, things were definitely very awkward between them at the moment. Cloud was trying not to think about it and concentrated on rowing.

"Look!" Yuna's outburst brought Cloud's attention away from rowing and to the mist that had surrounded them. The scenery was changing to something familiar. Lake Macalania.

Even the boat had vanished now and the two were on their feet with water up to their chests. Cloud felt the sense of déjà vu, it seemed as though Yuna did as well from the look in her eye.

"Do you think this is one of those tasks that the elders spoke about?" Cloud didn't know much about the tasks but this was dead set obvious. He just didn't really know what they were meant to do.

"Look at that." Yuna pointed at two symbols embedded in the water, they were made up of pyreflies. One took on the shape of the old Yevon symbol while the other took on the shape of a wolf's head.

Cloud was confused, Yuna as well. There was no doubt in their minds that this was the spot, this was where they shared their first real kiss. Why this place of all places? Why was this place chosen?

"This is just a guess, but if we're going to get on that island we need to work together. If this is the first task then maybe it's trying to bring us closer," Cloud didn't understand what Yuna was trying to get at, "the island wants us to remember the good times we shared together." Yuna sighed after having to explain what she meant. Cloud was still clueless as to what they were meant to do to advance.

"Oh for goodness sake!" Before Cloud knew it Yuna's lips pressed against his. Her lips tasted the same as they did back then, memories came flooding into Cloud's mind. All of those good times they had shared together came back to Cloud. Yuna pulled away and the symbols began to glow brighter. They kept gaining brightness and soon enough Cloud's vision was being blocked by a sheet of white forcing his eyes shut. When he opened his eyes he was back on the boat with Yuna, her face was a little red.

"Look I, I only did that because…" Yuna was the same as ever. She might've changed her appearance, she might've become a popstar, but she was still that same awkward person she had always been. Cloud smiled.

"I get it. I won't mention it." She seemed grateful to hear that from Cloud who had continued rowing. They had started talking more this time around. Cloud told her about his experience in the Realm of the Dead and about how he got help from her father, Jecht and Auron.

Yuna was telling Cloud about one of her stories about when she, Seifer and Kimahri were trying to track down a sphere. Apparently they had narrowed it's location down to the very centre of Bikanel and while they were there a sand storm came from out of nowhere.

"And then Kimahri tried to…" Yuna trailed off and Cloud understood why. They had reached the island, but there had only been one test. At first Cloud thought it might've been an illusion, but Yuna confirmed that it was the real thing. Could it be that their bond was so strong that they were able to just sail along by the tests? Despite this, there was one test that could never be skipped so easily.

Cloud's mako abilities allowed him to see further than a normal human could and just in the tree line, he could see a set of red eyes waiting for them. There was always a fight at the end of any trial.

"Get ready for a fight, back me up with your gun." Yuna nodded and took an offensive stance as the boat came to a stop on the shore. Just as Cloud expected, as soon as the boat touched the sand the fiend came lunging at them. With his quick instincts it was no trouble for him to quickly deflect the attack and go on the attack. The beast had a bulls head and the body of a human, a huge human that is. It stood at least eight feet tall and it's only weapons were its own razor sharp claws as well as the big twisted horns sprouting from it's head.

Cloud went straight in for a speed attack. His plan was to overwhelm the beast with a flurry of quick attacks rather than trying to use power strikes and out muscle it, but it didn't go as he planned. For a big guy the fiend moved very fast, faster than Cloud anticipated and he only just managed to sidestep out of the way of it's counter attack which had been launched after it dodged Cloud's initial strike.

A second attack was coming in, Cloud could see it coming but he wasn't in any position to dodge the claw that was coming in. His only option was to block it and maybe try to parry, but with the amount of strength that thing possessed it wasn't likely that Cloud would even be able to block it. This could be it. This could be the end for Cloud and it was all because of one stupid mistake. He should've anticipated a second attack after seeing the speed of the creature.

Right on cue, a barrage of bullets came flying at the bull fiend causing it to coil in pain and stop it's attack. Yuna really saved Cloud's ass then which meant he would have to repay the favour by following up on the opportunity she had given him.

Quickly regaining his composure, Cloud charged the fiend and got a few hits in before he had to back off to avoid another fast swipe. Again he was struggling to deal with the attacks of the bullman, it's attacks came in too quickly for him to find any sort of pattern.

"Cloud! Switch with me!" Cloud didn't have time to even get out a grunt before Yuna whizzed past him. All of a sudden her outfit had changed and she was wielding a one handed sword. She was dodging the attacks with ease, maybe she could see the attack pattern better from a distance.

Cloud had to admit it, Yuna was fast. Her swordsmanship wasn't bad either, maybe it wasn't Tidus who taught Denzel how to fight with a sword afterall. Cloud was having trouble even seeing the blade of her sword as she swung it around like it was some sort of weightless object. This was the first time he had seen her do anything like this, but there was no time to dilly dally about. An attack was coming in the Yuna hadn't seen and Cloud managed to just get in front of her to block it in time.

"I know the pattern now. Hit it from the side when you see an opening!" Within a second of Cloud uttering the words Yuna had whizzed away again, that girl was really something. Cloud did his best to create an opening for her and after a sloppy attack came in from the left, Cloud deflected the strike leaving a big gap at the side of its body. Before Cloud could even give a signal, Yuna had already seized the opportunity and plunged her sword right through the side of the fiend, following up with a slash to the side of the neck to finish things off.

"Nice work!" Yuna had made her way over to Cloud and high fived him. He was still awestruck after what he had just witnessed. Where did she learn how to do that? "Should we get going?"

"Hold on! Where did you learn to do that? And how did you change outfits so quickly?" She had gone back to her regular clothing now, dressed in a white top, denim short shorts and a half skirt starting from her left hip and ending at her ankle.

"You think I haven't been taking pointers every time I watch you fight? As for the outfit, the dress sphere allows me to switch my class at will. I can go from gunner all the way to a white mage."

Now that Cloud was fully informed of what Yuna could do, it was time for them to move on. Just above the treeline there appeared to stand a tower of some sorts, it had only become visible once they had made it onto the island. There was no doubt in Cloud's mind that Sarah and Jack were in there along with his imposter.

"So, what's the deal with Seifer? How come everyone voted him in as the new leader?" Cloud had been curious about that ever since he found out. He and Yuna were alone walking through a forest with nothing to do but to walk to their destination, now was as good a time as any to ask the question.

"Well, when your imposter first decided to turn on us, Seifer was the one who grouped us together and held our formation. Due to his leadership we were able to repel the imposter from besaid." That didn't sound like Seifer. Sure he was good at making nifty gadgets and he was very intelligent, but battle strategy? To be fair it had been two years, Cloud didn't know what Seifer had been up to while he was in the Realm of the Dead.

"How's Tidus? I still haven't seen him yet." Cloud had heard his name briefly in Luca and he had heard from Rikku that the two of them were still together, other than that he hadn't seen the kid in some time.

"He's fine, he made his comeback to Blitzball a while ago now and of course he's become a fan favourite. Why don't we go and see him once this mess is all over? Me, you, Rikku and Seifer?"

Seifer. Cloud didn't want to hear that name, regardless he agreed to go with them. It wasn't often that Cloud would get jealous of someone, but this was one of the rare occasions. The only other time he could think of when he got jealous over a girl was when Aerith kept mentioning her first boyfriend. In the end that boyfriend turned out to be Zack and Cloud could never turn on his best friend over a girl.

With that final conversation they had made it to the tower. The pair stayed low and out of sight, staying hidden in the forest. Cloud spotted two guards outside of the entrance. Yuna was able to take care of them easily with two bullets, each with the name of the guards on them. She had used her silencer too, the last thing they wanted to do was cause mayhem just in case Sarah and Jack were in danger.

Stealthily they made their way to the entrance which was locked. A hand scanner as well as a retinal scanner was on the wall next to the door. This wasn't Cloud's first rodeo, he had a way in. Dragging one of the bodies across, he placed their hand on the scanner and raised their eye up to the retinal scanner. Just like that the door opened. Cloud drew his sword and slowly made his way inside.

The inside was hollow. The ceiling was very high up and there wasn't anything in the room. If Cloud didn't know any better he'd think that the place had been abandoned. He nearly gave up until he saw two people sitting in chairs with their backs turned to Cloud and Yuna. Their heads were covered by bags but Cloud could tell who they were.

"Stop right there." The voice came from behind them and Cloud had to admit, this imposter sounded like him. He turned to face his doppelgänger and it was hard to see anything different in his appearance. However, Cloud did see something. The red ribbon, the tribute to Aerith, the imposter didn't have it around his left arm but his right arm.

"Yuna, get Sarah and Jack out of here. I'll deal with him." Yuna turned and ran for the two hostages, Cloud's imposter saw her and lunged at her. Cloud managed to step in and redirect the attack towards the wall.

Cloud pursued the imposter and followed up with a powerful strike which was only just able to be blocked. The imposter's sword must've been made out of a light material for him to move it around so fast, all Cloud needed to do was smash through.

It had to be said that Cloud wasn't very impressed. The imposter wasn't anything special in close quarters combat, in fact he wasn't any better than a beginner. His movements were very slow and lacked fluency, it was as if he was struggling to attack.

Cloud launched two power attacks in quick succession the first was able to get his imposters sword in a nice position. The second was able to break through the sword, splitting it in two, causing the sharp end to plunge it's way into the shoulder of the imposter.

As soon as Cloud laid his eyes on the imposter, he knew something wasn't right. The identical facial features and body structure was too big of a coincidence. Sparks were flying out of where the broken sword had lodged itself. The voice of the imposter was stuttering and changing in pitch. Cloud thought the imposter's fighting was very robotic and now it made sense, he was a machine.

A new page had been turned and another twist had been thrown in. If this imposter was a machine then someone had to have made it. This only meant one thing, they had fallen into one big trap.

Yuna, Sarah and Jack were across the room and Cloud's instincts took over. He ran to them and tackled them to the ground just before an assassin could strike them down.

Another two revealed themselves, they were dressed in the same clothing as the other guys in Zanarkand. Cloud had three people to protect, two of which were completely defenceless with no fighting experience. The assassins looked like they were trained well, this was going to be tough.

There was only one option Cloud could see. He would have to get all three to focus on him which would allow the others to escape. Normally he wouldn't mind if Yuna helped him but she had to escort Sarah and Jack if they had any chance of getting out of here alive.

"Get Sarah and Jack out of here, they won't last long on their own," Cloud blocked a triple attack launched by the three assassins all at once causing all four swords to lock, "ugh, get moving!"


	6. The Clash of Leaders

**Chapter 6 - _The Clash of Leaders_**

"Get moving!" Cloud was able to hold all three of the assassins' attacks however his strength wouldn't last against all of theirs for much longer. All four blades were screeching and the sound of metal against metal rang throughout the room.

Yuna realised quickly that Cloud wouldn't last much longer and as a result she let out a flurry of bullets causing the assassins to back off. She exchanged a look with Cloud and escorted Sarah and Jack towards the exit, leaving Cloud to deal with the assassins.

"Shouldn't we help?" Sarah looked worried about the ex-SOLDIER as did Jack. Yuna knew that Cloud could handle them and reassured them that he would be fine.

"Someone like Cloud would never lose to people as low as that," Yuna looked a head and noticed a few people dressed in black, the same shade and material as the assassins, "stay close."

Yuna would normally try to take all of the enemies out but this time she had two civilians with her. If they noticed anything suspicious then they would surely come looking for them, but then there was Cloud. When he exits the building there would be an ambush waiting for him. The best she could do was take out the least noticeable enemies.

Before they headed out, Yuna made sure to apply silencers to her guns. Sneaking towards the tree line would be the hardest part but once they the past that they would be home free.

Only two of the unknown enemies were on the left side of the tree line which was the weakest point of their encirclement. Yuna took them both out from distance then waited for a moment. No one seemed to have noticed, one last thing. Yuna threw a grenade over the top of the building which caused the guards to run over to that side once it exploded. The path was clear and the three of them made a dash for the tree line.

That explosion, where ever it came from, really saved Cloud's skin. The assassins were overpowering him while they fought as a unit, but now they had been scattered. One had been launched against the wall, another was stuck underneath some rubble and the last had managed to get out of the way.

Quickly, Cloud closed down the assassin that had just gotten up after being launched at the wall. With him being dazed and Cloud's speed he was taken out with ease. The one under the rubble was already out of the fight, which meant there was only one left. He came from behind Cloud, but was unable to get his attack off. Cloud simply rolled out of the way of the attack coming in from above and countered with a slash to the back.

Cloud made his way over to the assassin under the rubble. Before he got a chance to interrogate him, Cloud could hear shouting coming from the hole in the wall where the explosion went off. He got a quick glance at the uniform and saw a symbol, with something written inside it. 'Karma'. The symbol depicted a wolf's head, a dead wolf's head.

"That's him! Attack! Attack! Attack!" The Karma soldiers started charging at Cloud and pursued him as he tried to make his escape. Luckily for Cloud he had mako enhanced abilities, the soldiers couldn't keep up with him and he was able to make it to the tree line.

Yuna, Sarah and Jack were already in the boat when Cloud made it to the shore. The Karma soldiers were still chasing him and it seemed they had switched to firearms.

Unless someone in their party had a secret ability that allowed them to run across water, Cloud and Yuna would have to take every single one of the Karma soldiers out. Cloud didn't see any other choice and turned to face the soldiers, readying his sword as he did.

"Cloud!" Before he could charge, Yuna called for him and threw something to him. It was materia, summon materia. The voice of Leviathan echoed through Cloud's mind, he must've been excited to do battle with Cloud again.

The god of water rose from the sea behind them and Cloud made a run for the boat. As soon as he got there Leviathan manipulated the waves and sent them speeding away while also shooting acidic water from its mouth at the Karma soldiers.

"How are we gonna stop the boat!?" Yuna shouted over the sound of the wind and waves as they were moving with such speed. Cloud hadn't thought about that, it looked like they would be abandoning ship.

"Get ready for a wet landing," Cloud had the best reaction time out of all of them due to the mako so he would have to make the call when to jump overboard, "Jump now!"

All four of them jumped out of the boat and landed in the shallows of the sea while the boat continued moving before hitting the trees and breaking apart.

Cloud gathered himself to his feet only to be knocked back down to the ground again by Sarah and Jack, who had piled themselves on top of him. It was strange, he barely knew them and yet they were sobbing and thanking Cloud for saving them. Cloud had saved many people, but he never stuck around to receive their thanks many times. Even after everything he had done, not many people were ever this thankful. It felt; good.

"You disobeyed my orders! You can't be trusted if you keep doing this!" Seifer was on one and Cloud really didn't care. It seemed like Seifer was some sort of control freak, his veins were popping out he was that angry with Cloud.

"Look I don't need a lecture. We got Sarah and Jack and we got rid of my imposter. I don't get what the big deal is." Seifer continued to talk about how Cloud wasn't a team player, how he always went against orders and blah blah blah. Cloud didn't know how much more he could take of this before he snapped.

"I'm not interested in what you have to say anymore. As far as I'm concerned, I never joined the Heroes of Spira. I don't take orders from anyone apart of that group, so I'm leaving!" Cloud stood up from his seat and stormed out of Tifa's hut. The sun had just started to rise when he made his exited. Cloud could hear fast footsteps behind him, Tifa must've ran after him when he walked out.

"Cloud! Wait!" Tifa put her hand on his shoulder and he turned to face her. Those sad brown eyes said it all, she didn't want him to leave. It reminded Cloud of the time when he and Barret had their first falling out back in the 7th Heaven bar.

"Sorry Tifa, I just can't take this anymore."

"So that's how it is, huh!? You're just going to walk out and Denzel and Marlene again!? On me again!?"

"I just-" Tifa was right. Cloud couldn't leave those three alone again, not after everything they had been through. Seifer wouldn't be staying here forever, all Cloud had to do was wait for a few days and then he would be gone then maybe, just maybe he could give Denzel and Marlene a normal life.

"You're right, Tifa. I'll take Sarah and her kids back to Zanarkand then I promise I'll be back."

"You know Seifer will want to come along, right?" That wasn't what Cloud wanted to hear. He would just have to put up with Seifer on the journey, normally he wouldn't go but he felt like he had to this time. Cloud got this family involved with something they had nothing to do with, he had to escort them home.

"Then I guess I'll rely on the others to hold me back if he gets on my nerves." Cloud smirked at Tifa as he walked away from her and made his way to the airship.

As Cloud walked along the path to where the airship was, he heard movement in the bushes. He stopped dead in his tracks and smirked.

"You'll get there one day Rikku." Just behind Cloud, Rikku uncovered herself from her hiding spot. She didn't look too happy that Cloud found her out.

"How are you so good at hearing everything around you!? It took me months to get that quiet," Rikku did a little jog to catch up to Cloud and playfully punched him in the arm, "you really piss me off."

"Hey! A young lady like you shouldn't be using language like that."

"What do you mean 'young lady'!?" Cloud chuckled and carried on walking, Rikku matched his pace and walked beside him.

"So I heard about you and Seifer, what's up with you two?"

"I guess we just don't see eye to eye," Cloud would never be able to understand how Seifer thinks. Sure he's got a talent for making nifty gadgets but he is not a leader or a battle strategist, "I just think he's a bit of a control freak."

"You're not the only one who thinks that. He's the reason why me and Tidus left the group. The only reason I'm here is because I heard that you were here, the real you." So members of the group were leaving? They really were in turmoil, maybe if Cloud regained command everyone would get back together.

"So tell me, who else has left the group?" Lulu, Wakka, Tifa, Yuffie and Reeve has all left along with Rikku and Tidus. Rikku also told him that Vincent barely ever showed himself to the meetings, Cloud expected that to be fair.

The two had finally reached the airship where Sarah and the kids were waiting along with Yuna, Seifer must've still been on his way. Jack and Lilly were particularly excited to be on the airship.

"First time?" Cloud stood next to Sarah as they watched the kids run around. He could tell that Sarah was just as excited as they were, she was doing a terrible job of hiding it too.

"Yeah, I've always dreamt about being on one of these. I bet there are a tonne of memories in this cockpit alone." Sarah had moved closer to the window, eager to get in the air and see everything from so high up.

"If you go up top just make sure you don't fall. You don't want me saving you again, do you?" Cloud grinned and got a slap on the arm for his witty comment.

At last Seifer had arrived and the engine began to roar. The airship started to ascend and soon enough they were cutting through the clouds. Sarah seemed mesmerised, Cloud decided to leave her to it.

Cloud had made his way down to the cabin and gotten himself a drink from the bar. It had been awhile since he tasted alcohol, to be honest it didn't give him the satisfying twinge on his tongue that he used to get. He'd never understand how Barret and Cid drank so much.

As Cloud gazed out of the window, his mind drifted to his imposter. A robot, who would build a robot with the purpose of framing Cloud and causing destruction.

Other things came to his mind too. He never really thought about it but why was that spirit of the lifestream so eager to help him? Yes, she had told him that he was the guardian of the lifestream, but he was her champion. Cloud was supposed to help her, not the other way round. There must be a reason.

"There's that scary face. You always make that face when you're concerned about something." Yuna had taken a seat on Cloud's table, he mustn't have noticed. Normally Cloud would share everything with Yuna, but now, now their relationship had changed.

"It's nothing, I guess alcohol doesn't taste as good as it used to." Cloud didn't really want to share his problems right now, he needed to deal with it somehow.

"Seifer says that we shouldn't drink alcohol, Barret and Cid just can't stop though."

"Maybe that explains why it's so watered down," There Seifer goes again, it's like he doesn't want anyone to have their own personalities, "you know you don't have to do everything Seifer says."

Yuna looked down and skipped over Cloud's comment. Usually he would've said something but he didn't think it was his place to say what she should and shouldn't do, that would just make him another Seifer.

Speak of the devil. Seifer walked into the cabin and took a seat at the table. Cloud sighed and turned away with his arms crossed. What could he possibly want now?

"Cloud, I want to apologise," That was unexpected to hear, "I should've been more lenient considering you used to be incharge of the group. It should've been obvious that you would follow your own orders."

Cloud glanced at Yuna, she must've set this up. For her sake Cloud would have to accept the apology, though he really didn't want to. Seifer offered his hand and Cloud shook it.

"You know, your sword is made from a unique material. Only you and one other person have the material, the other being me of course." That was a quick change of topic. It was clear that Yuna had scripted him to say this. If Seifer didn't want a normal conversation neither did Cloud.

"Not interested." Cloud stood up from his seat and made his way up the stairs where he crashed out in one of the beds. His eyes closed and he was out.

"That was a bit cold, don't you think?" Cloud sighed at the sound of that voice.

"Back again I see," This spirit would not leave Cloud alone, "who cares if it was cold?"

"More people than you think. How do you think Yuna felt about it?" Was this woman serious? Was she really about to give relationship advice to Cloud?

"Why would I care what Yuna thinks? She's with Seifer now, that's all that matters," Cloud sat up from his bed and looked at the spirit who was sat on the side of the bed, "why do you care about my personal life anyway? You're a celestial being, don't you have anything better to do?"

"Hm… no, not really. Did you forget that the lifestream is protected by the farplane? My job is being done for me, my actions have no effect."

"So I'm going to have to put up with you getting entertainment from my personal life," The spirit nodded and Cloud slumped back down onto the mattress, "you couldn't have picked someone else?"

"Why would I choose someone else over the guardian of the lifestream? Surely no one has a more interesting life." She was just messing around with him now. Cloud didn't really mind though, she had nothing else to do that must've been boring.

"So are you ever gonna tell me your name?"

"I don't have a name, the concept is illogical for beings like myself." Never given a name, that must be sad at least it would be if she was human. Cloud got the feeling that she didn't care all that much.

"Well I can't just call you 'spirit lady' can I? How about Dianna? Rose? Rebecca?" She seemed to like the latter, "Rebecca it is."

"Type A security alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed!"

Cloud had been awoken by the sound of a siren and a security alert. His first instinct was to get up and draw his sword. No one else was in the cabin which meant this room was safe, Cloud needed to find the others.

There was no time for stairs, Cloud jumped over the side and landed on his feet before quickly transitioning into a run. It was probably best to check the cockpit first, if the enemy seized control of the flight controls, then everyone was done for.

Sarah, Jack and Lilly were hiding in a corner while the pilot was trying to fend off an intruder. Cloud charged from behind and before the intruder could do anything it was already too late for him.

"Stay in here and lock the door! Don't open it for anyone other than me or Yuna!" Cloud ran out of the cockpit and started searching for Yuna. He ran up a set of stairs to the next floor to find Seifer battling with one of the intruders. Cloud had noticed the wolf head on the shoulder of the intruder. Karma would not leave them alone. Cloud ran to Seifer's aid and with a two on one situation the Karma soldier had no chance.

"Where's Yuna?" Seifer pointed upwards onto the deck and they quickly made their way up there. This didn't mean that Cloud and Seifer were equal, they simply had to work together to save someone important to them, that was all.

Yuna was fighting one of the soldiers, this one seemed different from the others. Seifer explained that he had been modified and was equipped with robotic assistance, making his attacks four times as powerful and his speed even more.

Quickly, Cloud intercepted an attack to stop Yuna from getting hit. He tried to take the offensive but this modified soldier was too fast and Cloud found himself having to take a defensive stance.

An attack from the right came in and Cloud locked swords with the soldier. Even his weapon was strong, most swords that came up against the fusion sword were massively inferior. This one seemed equal in strength, not better just equal. Cloud's eyes widened as he realised the terrible truth.

All three of them kept trying to attack but the soldier kept swatting them away like flies. An attack from the right came in and Cloud locked swords with the soldier. Even his weapon was strong, most swords that came up against the fusion sword were massively inferior. This one seemed equal in strength, not better just equal. Cloud's eyes widened as he realised the terrible truth.

Cloud and Yuna, who has morphed into her warrior mode, were knocked back which left Seifer isolated. All he had was a gun and in close quarters it was over for him. Seifer fired a shot however the speed of the modified soldier was too fast and he was able to knock Seifer over the side.

"No!" Yuna was enraged and charged the soldier on her own foolishly.

"Yuna stop," It was too late for Cloud to say anything and before he knew it Yuna was falling over the side as well, "Shit!"


	7. A New Development

**Chapter 7** _ ****_ _ **\- A New Development**_

All hell had broken loose. The Karma soldier with mechanical enhancements had thrown Seifer overboard as well as Yuna a few moments after. Cloud didn't think he just acted.

Just barely he managed to dodge an incoming attack and without hesitation, Cloud jumped over the side. He straightened himself out in order to gain more speed and soon enough he caught up with Yuna. Quickly he grabbed her and faced his back to the floor. The impact was definitely going to hurt Cloud but if that meant Yuna would be safe then it didn't matter.

THUD! Cloud hit the ground so hard that cracks were carved into the terrain. Yuna was safe in Cloud's arms, however it seemed like their fight wasn't over yet. The enhanced soldier had also jumped over the side in pursuit of them.

Yuna had passed out, either from the soldier's attack or the speed at which they fell. Cloud propped her against a tree in a safe place before drawing his sword and facing the enhanced soldier alone.

Cloud was at a massive disadvantage with the soldier being faster and more powerful than him, but Cloud had a plan. No, it wasn't a good plan but he didn't have any other ideas. Cloud would have to anticipate the strikes of the soldier and block the strikes before they even came in. Essentially, he was playing a guessing game.

The soldier made the first move and dashed towards Cloud. Judging from the position of the sword and the soldiers body shape, Cloud guessed the attack was coming from the right. Through this judgement, Cloud was able to block the incoming attack and even countering with his own. While the attack landed he was only able to cut the soldier on the cheek.

There was one final trick up Cloud's sleeve. As the soldier charged him, he met the challenged and also started running forward. The two were running straight at one another and were heading for head on collision. However, Cloud was smart, he wasn't just some thick skulled barbarian. Just as the two were about to collide Cloud jumped over the soldier, putting those mako enhancements to good use. With the soldier's back facing him, he slashed his sword across it. The soldier fell to the ground where as Cloud stood victorious.

Cloud glanced over to Yuna, she was still out cold. His second instinct was to examine the soldier. His sword, the mechanical enhancements they were all made from one material, the same as Cloud's sword. Just as Cloud thought, he was never a traitor, it was Seifer. All this time the real enemy had been under their noses.

Cloud clenched his fists and gripped his sword tighter. That worm had been trying to destroy his name, his life and his relationships. Did he even love Yuna? Was he simply trying to anger Cloud?

The obsessive need for control suddenly made sense to Cloud. If one thing went wrong then his cover would've been blown, that's why he was so strict about his orders and his leadership. That snake was going to pay for everything he had done to Cloud.

How was he going to break the news to Yuna? Cloud also wondered whether the rest of the guys would even believe him. One thing was for sure, he needed the proof. Quickly he took a picture of the material on his phone and took a sample to be analysed before turning his attention to Yuna.

These past few days hasn't been easy for Cloud, he was with Yuna for so long before and to see her with someone else was just heartbreaking. He brushed the hair out of her face and took in the beauty in front of his eyes.

Cloud had admired her for long enough, now it was time to get serious and figure out where the hell they were. Luckily it seemed like the airship was alright, he received a message from Sarah saying that everything was fine.

If he wasn't mistaken, Cloud believed that they were close to lake Macalania. If he could find the lake then he was pretty sure that he would be able to find his way to Bevelle from there. Cloud picked up Yuna and put her over his shoulder, the search for lake Macalania started here.

!~!

"That bastard! I can't believe it, all this time the real enemy was under our noses! How could we have been so blind!?" Tidus had just received the news of Seifer's betrayal, he and Rikku were both given the news by Tifa over the phone.

"Cloud told me that he's headed for Lake Macalania. Me and Lulu are going there now, Cloud and Yuna are in pretty bad shape. Yuna's unconscious and Cloud says he's fine but I can tell he's not. They need our help." Tifa explained the situation as quickly as possible. It actually sounded like she was getting ready to leave while she was on the phone.

"Let us come! If you encounter Seifer, I want to look him dead in the eyes and ask him why he did this!" Tidus looked like he was about to go on a rampage, Rikku took his hand to calm him down.

"Make sure you're ready, I want to get there as soon as possible." With that Tifa ended the call and the two immediately started gearing up.

!~!

This wasn't good. Yuna was still unconscious, Cloud was injured and they were surrounded by five Chimeras. Cloud held his fusion sword in front of him. He only had the main blade in his hands, his injury was preventing him from fighting at full strength. Despite his mako enhancements he was unable to wield every blade together.

One of the Chimera's pounced, Cloud couldn't roll out of the way due to Yuna being behind him. If they broke through then she would be history, his only option was to block. Upon contact, the Chimera successfully forced Cloud backwards. Another pounced and all Cloud could do was the same as last time. This injury was crippling him. Could this be the end? A third pounced and knocked him down to the ground. The fourth pounced on top of him, he managed to lodge his sword in the Chimera's mouth but it was still putting up a fight. Aggressively it thrashed and clawed at Cloud. The other four walked past him and were making their way towards Yuna. Was this it? Was this the level Cloud's skill was at? He took a glance at Yuna who was being swarmed by the Chimeras.

"Ugh! Shit! This isn't how it ends! I refuse to let her die!" Green waves of energy were beginning to surge out of the ground beneath Cloud. His eyes were glowing more than they ever had before and soon enough his entire body was surrounded in green energy. With all his might, Cloud let out a battle cry and ran the blade of his sword along the mouth of the Chimera on top of him. The Chimera screeched and Cloud managed to break free before standing up and slicing the beast's head clean off.

"Stay away from her!" The green energy surged up wards around Yuna causing the Chimeras to back away and howl in pain due to the intense light.

"Everyone look at this!" Lulu called for everyone to look outside of the window of the airship. In the distance they saw a beam of green light coming from an area in the Macalania Woods which was grasping at the stars in the sky.

"Brother! Take us down there!" Tifa was staring intently at the light. How long had it been since she saw that same light? Two years ago, in the Northern Cave. Was it really what she thought it was?

"You think Cloud is down there?" Rikku asked Tifa who was still staring at the light.

"I know he is."

When Yuna opened her eyes all she could see was a burst of green light surrounding her. Four blurry figures could be seen in front of her, all of which were fiends of some sort. Another figure stood further ahead. This one was human, they were holding a giant sword. Cloud! It must've been him!

When the light died down she could see Cloud more clearly, that same green light surrounded him. His eyes weren't the usual sky blue they normally were, they burning with light. They were the same green colour as the light. Strangely, Cloud lowered his sword and as the fiends all charged at him at the same time, he simply raised his hand. When he did the Chimeras were all engulfed in light. They screamed and thrashed until they were nothing more than a cluster of pyreflies.

Suddenly a behemoth appeared behind Cloud. It was running full speed at him. Cloud wasn't moving, had he not seen it?

"Cloud! Look out!" Tifa and the others had arrived and were running towards Cloud, although it was clear they weren't going to reach him before the behemoth.

"What the hell is going on!?" Tidus, along with everyone else, was completely confused as to what was happening to Cloud.

"Why isn't he doing anything!? He'll get crushed if he doesn't move!" Tifa was running faster than she ever had before, but deep down she knew she wasn't fast enough.

Slowly Cloud turned around and again raised his hand. The behemoth was engulfed in the same light as the Chimeras and eventually met the same fate. What was going on? What was this newly found power?

This time Cloud moved fast and took out a fiend that Tifa hadn't seen that was about to attack her, this time with his sword. It seemed as though the fiends were being attracted to Cloud, his strength was inviting challenge. Quickly Cloud took out several fiends that were approaching him in the blink of an eye, they couldn't even be identified. The fiends were starting to back down and most of them had ran away, the few that stayed were cut down in an instant.

The green light around Cloud had started to die down and his eyes were returning to their usual appearance. As soon as the light completely vanished, Cloud fell flat on his face. He must've passed out from whatever just happened.

"You guys help Yuna get to her feet and make sure she gets to the airship, I'll get Cloud." When Tifa got to Cloud, he was hot. Steam was coming off of him. What the hell just happened? Tifa used some ice materia to cool him down before putting his arm over her shoulder. She carried him to the airship and set him down in one of the beds in the cabins.

!~!

"So, the plan failed then did it Seifer?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It seems even with my mechanical upgrades given to them, these soldiers are completely worthless. It was a gamble and had we pulled it off things would've been a lot easier with Cloud out of the picture. It took a lot of effort studying and experimenting on the farplane, I hope it doesn't go to waste. Anyway, I believe our next move should be to attack them head on. Are you up for it? Seymour?"


End file.
